


Love Bites

by idola



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, BDSM, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:07:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idola/pseuds/idola
Summary: Fifteen years ago, Judar and Hakuryuu said goodbye for what they thought would be the last time.Five years ago, the existence of vampires was confirmed.Today, Judar meets his childhood best friend again for the first time in forever.
Relationships: Judal | Judar/Ren Hakuryuu
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> if you thought that i was going to live my life without ever posting a horny juhaku vampire au then you are sorely mistaken, for better or worse

Judar always woke up late. It didn’t matter if he had work, and it hadn’t mattered when he was in high school or any school before that and had class. He _always_ woke up late.

And it wasn’t like alarm clocks didn’t work. They did. They woke him up instantly, just the same as with anyone else. The problem wasn’t that he was a heavy sleeper, because he wasn’t. He was actually a pretty light sleeper. Sounds from the tenants in the room above at midnight woke him up if he’d gone to sleep by then. Cars honking at each other late at night despite the lack of traffic woke him up. Being too hot or too cold woke him up, and he could never seem to get the temperature in his room right. Everything woke him up and irritated the hell out of him. Heavy sleepers didn’t appreciate what they had enough.

By the time morning came around, he was just too _tired_ to get up. Tired and irritated. The first thing Judar usually did in the morning was curse the alarm he’d set on his phone, turn it off, and lay in bed for a little while as he waited for the irritation to simmer down.

Then he usually fell asleep again. It really wasn’t intentional. It just happened.

Work third shift then? No way. What was the point of working the whole damn time he was awake? That wasn’t living. Living was getting woken up at noon for the fourth or fifth time to an angry voicemail threatening that if it happened one more time, he’d be fired. And he just didn’t care enough to take the threat to heart. So he kept doing it and kept rolling his eyes at every new and slightly more colorful voicemail that graced his phone.

Part of Judar felt like he was too young to be so apathetic about his career prospects, but it was all just so boring. It didn’t matter if he saved money or not - he had an inheritance from his foster mom he could always dig into if he needed to. And if he ran out of that, well… he’d figure something out. Probably. Maybe? At least for a month or two. Yeah.

Judar stretched for a while, lazily rolling around in his bed with a sigh. It was warmed to a nice temperature from the afternoon sun, despite the cold weather outside. Skipping work was basically the same as having a day off. And having a day off was a good thing, so he was going to enjoy it.

There was nothing in the kitchen - that was intentional, but just as annoying as ever. If he didn’t have any food, he’d have to go get breakfast somewhere. He hated eating in his shitty dim kitchen with a halfway burnt-out light, so any excuse to leave was an excuse he was happy to take. It wasn’t like he could cook anyway, which was why there was never food at home.

Judar rolled off his bed by accident as he stretched and groaned.

“Ow! Augh…”

He rubbed his back and whined. That was gonna hurt all day.

Now that he was up, he might as well shower.

Judar worked just enough to be able to afford a place with a nice shower. Apartments in Rakushou ranged from dead cheap, full of rats and cockroaches and mold, to luxury five bedroom mansions. Of course, if he had the choice, he’d live in a five bedroom mansion. Who wouldn’t?

But an expensive place meant expensive bills which meant going to work consistently. As cool as a nice place sounded, it just didn’t make sense to work his ass off to live in a room that was always gonna give him cabin fever. The only thing that was really important in an apartment was a good shower - one that didn’t run out of hot water after the first ten minutes. That in itself easily ruled out the cheapest forty percent of apartments in the inner city.

Luckily, there were plenty of options in the cheapest forty-one percent of apartments, one of which he was currently living in. One bedroom, one bathroom, one-fourth of a kitchen. It was shit and there was a not-so-fine line of mold on the outer edge of the kitchen sink, but that wasn’t important. He only needed it to sleep and shower in. Everything else was better done in town.

After taking an hour-long shower to wash his hair, Judar re-braided it and was out in no time. First order of business: breakfast.

Rakushou wasn’t that pretty during the day. Actually, it wasn’t that pretty at night either. Smog hid the stars and the only real change to the city itself was that traffic thinned out, taking the majority of its noise with it. Sort of. Not that the traffic mattered much to Judar, since he didn’t drive. Why bother when he had enough free time to just walk wherever he needed to be?

Since it was really lunchtime, not breakfast, and the cold was biting through his jacket and wet hair uncomfortably - it was February, alright - Judar opted to go to a sit-down restaurant to eat. One that closed its door and had a TV and a heater. It was more expensive than just picking something up from the first place he passed on the street, but it was worth it in the cold.

At two in the afternoon (yes, that was still breakfast time, shut up), most TVs were turned to the same channel. People filled in quickly, taking up space and ordering nothing more than tea. Most of them were only there because they had no TV at home. The more people that entered, the quieter it got. Then one staticky voice broke the silence from the other side of the TV.

“Good afternoon. Last night there were three reports of sightings and twenty deaths, a two percent increase from yesterday. We are still investigating the sightings - none have been found to be reliable at this point…”

A few whispers spread through the room as the news anchor took a breath. Judar ate his lunch, a plain noodle dish that tasted like nothing more than beef stock, noodles, and garlic, absentmindedly.

“…The old city seems to be the focus of attacks. As usual, more tourists were targeted than locals. Please be sure to exercise caution by carrying a compact mirror and not staying out too late…”

Judar scoffed. What kind of local was gonna listen to _that_? Just staying inside all day wasn’t living. Everyone knew that. And tourists were lost causes. They’d be running around everywhere even if the world was ending. Three or four deaths meant nothing to them.

“Vampire hunters from all over the country have been searching for the source. It is likely that rural vampires have also been moving to Rakushou recently, leading to the increase in attacks here. Identification check-points will be increasing in number. Those with a Rakushou identification card should carry it at all times, as it’s likely the majority of perpetrators will have cards from the provinces instead. On the other hand, Youshuu’s decrease in attacks has continued to a yearly low thanks to the efforts of hunters.”

The reporter continued in that tone for the next hour. It wasn’t that interesting, and it repeated a lot of information every day. But a lot of the interesting people coming into the country in the past few years were vampire hunters. They followed the information and booked flights at any significant changes. So in a roundabout way, the news was useful. It told Judar when someone would break up his monotonous life.

Judar’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the display.

Sinbad  
_How’s the situation over there?_

As usual, Sinbad cut to the chase without even bothering to ask how Judar was. Not that it mattered or anything: it wasn’t smart to get attached to Sinbad’s type. Judar wasn’t an expert at always doing the smart thing, but he was trying to start improving his track record a little. At least enough to keep himself from looking pathetic.

Judar  
_getting worse, as usual. when are you gonna visit and take care of it?_

Sinbad  
_I have my own country to take care of._

Ouch. Cold as ever. But what could he expect from Sindria’s head vampire hunter?

The only reason they were in contact in the first place was that Kou’s government didn’t tend to report to international news, and Sinbad wanted a faster source for worldwide information. Judar had met him at a bar by chance and was just bored enough to comply. Well, it might have also had something to do with how interesting Sinbad was. Just a little.

Knowing Sinbad, it was probably a group text or something. Sent to twenty, maybe thirty people at a time to determine the overall worldwide situation. It was annoying, but what could he do?

Maybe be suspicious on purpose and act like he’d been turned or something. That might be fun. Unfortunately, Sinbad would probably assume it was an act for attention before anything else. Turning had never been proven, even with the number of attacks skyrocketing in the past two decades. But maybe he’d send a subordinate to the city. A boring subordinate who just signed up to be a hunter for glory and had no intention of actually risking their life for the job.

As Judar was leaving, he checked his reflection in the entryway mirrors. He adjusted his choker slightly to keep its detail midline, then left to wander the streets.

Being a Monday, there wasn’t an awful lot to do during the day. As big of a city as Rakushou was, it lacked daytime entertainment. Nearly everyone was at their boring day job on a Monday afternoon. And if they weren’t, they were probably grocery shopping for their kids. Or shopping for themselves with money meant for their kids. Hardly anyone lived a daytime single-without-kids life except for students, and students all thought they were too smart to talk to him.

Maybe the selfish parents were the ones with the right ideas. There was always shopping, yeah. The buying-useless-things industry would never die. It’d always be there for him. But it wasn’t like he had the money to go on a big shopping trip every time he skipped work. If only, right?

Normally, people with free time spent lots of time with friends. But Judar didn't have any. Hadn’t for a long time. It didn’t bother him - plenty of people talked to him, they were just so _annoying_. He’d spend some time with someone, cure his boredom for a bit, then spend the next week or two glad that he didn’t have to deal with them all the time. So no real friends.

Every now and then there was an exception to the rule. People with interesting lives like Sinbad were always fun to listen to. Last time he visited, they met up for dinner. Sinbad had all sorts of stories about vampires, ranging from times when he’d accidentally taken one home to killing a hundred-vampire family just in time for breakfast. He also had first hand experience with what techniques worked and which didn’t. For example, he knew that garlic really was poisonous to vampires and that they weren’t really hurt by silver. Things like that.

Other than Sinbad, no one really came to mind. There had been Hakuryuu and Kougyoku and Kouha - nearly their whole family, actually, but they grew apart. Or rather, Judar’s family situation changed again and he moved to the other side of the city. He was still in primary school at the time. Then he never saw any of them ever again and started living a life of solitude instead! Yeaaah!

To backtrack a little.

When Judar was an infant, his parents were killed by vampires. He didn’t know that then - no one did. But as time went on and more information came out about the other half of the world, it became obvious. No human could have killed them. He was fostered out almost instantly. Babies had it easy in the system, so he got through pretty quickly compared to the older kids.

Then, after seven years of living with a wealthy childless woman who fostered him, she died as well. Since her husband had died years prior, Judar was once again left with nowhere to go.

But he hadn’t been worried, at the time. He was sure that Hakuryuu’s mom would just adopt him and things would go back to normal - not only were they neighbors, but Judar had always gotten along well with her children. But Gyokuen smiled and told him his next family would love him too, and that was that.

Logically, even if Gyokuen had wanted to adopt him, there was probably someone who would pay more for a healthy child past the most troublesome ages. So Judar didn’t really mind, even if he was secretly a little sad that he’d likely never see Hakuryuu or his siblings again.

It had been some fifteen years since Judar last saw any of them. In that time, the world had changed a lot. Vampire attacks went from nearly legendary to occurring in huge numbers.

The catalyst was that people learned of the existence of vampires. A case in Parthevia fourteen years ago led to it. Sinbad, the most famous hunter in the world, defeated the first vampire, effortlessly proving their existence while creating endless methods for vampire slaughter for the purpose of improving safety for humans.

As vampires were forced to stop using their tried and true techniques and switch to more risky methods, their work was discovered much sooner. Cases in Reim, Imuchakk, and Heliohapt sprung up one after another. Kou, too. There were even vampires out there on the sparsely populated islands around Balbadd, leaving victims with tiny puncture wounds pale and asleep in their cars after long days. Usually the culprit wasn’t found - it was enough to identify that the work was that of a vampire and increase safety in the area so the vampire would move to a different town. Then even that stopped being the case.

Vampire hunters were the new CEOs; everyone wanted to be them, but almost nobody could make it. People called them modern heroes. Adored them. Funded every one of their whims, if they could kill enough.

It motivated a lot of people to try to make it in the business. Many did.

Hiding wasn’t enough for vampires to get by anymore. A trail of bites and little bits of information from each victim would easily lead to the vampire who fed from them all. Then the vampire would be caught and either tortured or killed, depending on the country. So as time went on, vampires stopped leaving their victims alive. There were less hints to be gained from a dead body. The number of killings continued to rise and rise until it became something of a pandemic.

But really, it wouldn’t have gotten so bad if humans hadn’t started killing them first. Judar’s parents died to a vampire long before victim killing became common, and even he could see why vampires were more likely murderers than not nowadays.

So Judar didn’t buy into the vampire fear-mongering shit. He didn’t feel like eating every meal covered in two tons of garlic and he especially didn’t feel like covering up to hide the smell of his own blood.

That was why chokers were popular now - they were proven to lower the likelihood of attacks by covering the strong smell that came from behind the thin skin of a human neck. Not to sound like a pretentious asshole, but Judar wore them before they were cool. It was annoying to see people way too old to be wearing those so-called “blood chokers” acting like it was a safety charm instead of a fashion statement. 

Despite the fact that half the world was scared shitless, it was still fun to see how the vampire phenomenon progressed. People were dying, sure, but it was fun. Added a bit of danger to walking through the streets at night. Made things feel more like a game than they were. And hey, even if he got bit, he heard it was supposed to feel really good. Released endorphins or something. He wasn’t hoping it happened to the point of fanaticism or anything, but if that was how he died, it was fine. There were worse ways to go for sure.

So it didn’t really matter if he followed expected safety precautions or whatever. He could use the excitement.

After the lengthy walk to the subway station, it took another five minutes of waiting in the barely-heated tunnel for it to come. On his days off, Judar often waited around on the subway until he felt like getting off, then took the next stop. It’d give him a new place to wander around at, even if it turned out to just be full of office buildings. Loitering was as good of a hobby as any.

The stop Judar got off at ended up being near the old town. It was somehow even busier than the district he lived in, full of souvenir shops and paper lanterns. Much more colorful than the view from his window, that was for sure.

It was fun, but got old fast. Especially when people tried to ask him directions. It was double especially old when groups of giggling girls asked for directions just to hit on him, despite it being plainly obvious that he batted for the other team.

Luckily the worst of the crowds only covered a couple blocks in the city’s center. It didn’t take all that long to find the other side of it and look around the shops.

Since the area had a far worse vampire problem than any other in the city, there were some strange precautions. Some streets had closed shops with silver chain-locks, while others had garlic ornaments hanging overhead. It was more than a little overkill.

According to Sinbad garlic was only fatal to vampires if they ingested large quantities of it, and Judar was getting _really_ sick of the smell. He wasn’t looking forward to eating more of it for dinner. Maybe what he really needed was to find somewhere to buy good fruit in winter.

Unless they were giving fruit a garlic bath these days too. That’d be pretty terrible.

Thanks to the late season, the sun began to set before it could really be called evening. Then, thanks to the vampire scares, Judar would have the streets mostly to himself. As much as he could in as big of a city as it was, anyway.

When he was a kid, things were different. He remembered the streets being better lit, and more full of human warmth despite the time of day. Families still went to dinner together after sunset then, not that he ever got to participate in that tradition. Falan, his ‘mom’ at the time, didn’t ever treat him like he was family. If she did, he’d have replaced her real son, and she couldn’t have that. Even as an elementary schooler Judar understood that.

Judar sighed, watching his wispy breath drift away into the cold. It was easy to lose focus and zone out into thinking about the past on days he spent alone. So when he saw someone in the cold street after a few minutes of having streets to himself, it took a few seconds for him to realize that they had stopped and were staring at him.

Judar stopped as well. The man a few feet away from him looked familiar, except for the scar - how was that possible, when the scar was easily his most defining feature?

It was difficult to tell if the uneasy look spread across his pale face was a trick of the light or a well-worn expression. Certainly, if he had been smiling, he would have fit the familiar shadow in Judar’s mind much easier.

He almost looked like… like…

…Like Hakuyuu. But Hakuyuu would be much older now. In his thirties, or maybe even forties. So the person in front of him, who looked to be around Judar’s age, couldn’t be Hakuyuu.

Before Judar could figure out what name to call out, his unfamiliar voice beat him to it.

“You’re… Judar, right?”

“Haku…ryuu?”

Looking dumbfounded, Hakuryuu pursed his lips and nodded. The gesture was oddly familiar, and a little cute.

Judar found himself smiling - it felt like a dream. Maybe it was. But he couldn’t imagine why he’d dream up a Hakuryuu with such a huge scar. It didn’t suit the innocent picture that he used to have in his head of Hakuryuu, who was always so little from his eyes.

Judar took a few steps closer. “What the hell, it’s really you then? You used to only come up to my chin!”

He nodded. Even with the dim light, it was easy to see the dark mole on his chin bob up and down with the motion. “And it must be you. I’ve never known anyone else to refuse to cut their hair for so long.”

Judar huffed. “It looks good! Why would I change it?”

“It has to be inconvenient, spending all your time taking care of it.”

“Yours is longer than plenty of people’s, you know. It’s not like you don’t understand what style is.”

Hakuryuu looked away, tucking a loose strand behind his ear. He looked a little annoyed - probably because Judar was right - but the smile didn’t leave his lips.

Judar grinned. “Hey, let’s go somewhere warm and talk, okay? It’s been forever.” He looked around for a second before realizing he had no idea where he was. “I live on the other side of town, so I don’t know anywhere good though…”

“The other side? What’re you doing here then?”

“You know, just looking around. I had today off,” he lied.

“…I was just heading to the store. I find that most restaurants around here aren’t very good.”

“Buying groceries? Can you cook?”

“Yes,” Hakuryuu said. “Would you like to try my cooking instead of eating out, then? I can make whatever you’d like.”

“I want dessert! Like custard or jelly...”

“Hey, it’s barely five yet… Eat some real food.”

“So? Dessert is timeless. Or do you only know how to make dinner?”

“I know how to make most things, including various desserts! But I’m making dinner first.”

It was surprising just how easy it was to talk to Hakuryuu. Though it had been some fifteen years since they’d last seen each other, talking to him was more natural than talking to the people Judar had to see every day at work.

In the yellowed lighting of a small grocery store, it was a bit easier to make out Hakuryuu’s features. Judar remembered Hakuryuu’s family being well-off, and if Hakuryuu’s nice clothes were any indication, Judar was remembering correctly. But he hoped that Hakuryuu didn’t live with his family still. There were a lot of them, some more tolerable than others. He really lucked out, meeting the best of the bunch by chance like this.

Judar didn’t mean to get ahead of himself, but joking around with Hakuryuu was kind of making his heart race. He’d grown up well, that was for sure. It was the first time Judar had felt that way with anyone in a while, and he was looking forward to seeing Hakuryuu’s place and, if things continued to go well, maybe even his room.

Judar groaned at the cold as they left the store. “The temperature dropped pretty fast…”

“Because it’s going to freeze tonight. Will you be able to get home alright like this?”

“Duh. It’s not that cold. Besides, around here there’s always a taxi driver waiting for you to give in. A little hard to freeze to death with them sitting at every corner with a heated car.”

“Yes, I guess that’s true…”

Judar didn’t miss the quick glance Hakuryuu gave his choker. Suddenly, he felt a little self conscious about it. Though it only covered a small band around his neck compared to the full-sized chokers meant to defend against vampires, it probably still gave Hakuryuu the idea that he was some kind of coward. Hakuryuu didn’t have anything on his neck despite the time of day and the recent increases in killings. Not only that, this was one of the more dangerous areas of the city.

Judar made a point to walk a few steps into the dim street before turning back to Hakuryuu. “So which way do you live? Do you still live with your family, or on your own now?”

“On my own. It’s that way.” Hakuryuu pointed a gloved hand to the left.

It didn’t take all that long to reach Hakuryuu’s apartment, except for the climbing five flights of stairs part. Judar’s room was only on the second floor, and by the top he was out of breath.

“Not much for exercise?” Hakuryuu teased. He didn’t look phased at all by all the climbing.

“Don’t assume! Maybe my specialty is just weight lifting or something.”

Hakuryuu shot him a doubtful look.

Unlike Judar’s apartment, Hakuryuu’s looked lived in. His kitchen was filled with utensils, though Judar had no no idea what most of them were supposed for. Clearly Hakuryuu did, because it didn’t take long for him to get to work. He also had a table - though with no chairs, which suited Judar fine. Eating comfortably lying on the floor was a luxury of knowing how to cook, apparently.

Within minutes he had hot tea and spiced peanuts served. The peanuts were good, but the tea was steeped to bitterness, so Judar ignored it.

While Hakuryuu was preparing food, they talked about all sorts of mundane things. Apparently he was a student studying biology, with a boring part-time job on the side to help with rent.

“Here I thought your brothers would just pay you through or something. Not enough money for all of you or something?”

Hakuryuu didn’t respond.

Assuming Hakuryuu’s attention was leaving him to focus more on cooking, Judar got up to go look. With several pans out at once, it was actually kind of impressive that he managed to keep a conversation up in the first place. “That looks like a lot of work.”

“It’s a useful skill, though. You should learn as well.”

“No thanks. It looks like a pain,” Judar said.

“No more painful than eating flavorless restaurant food.”

“You mean garlic-flavored restaurant food.”

Hakuryuu smiled. “I won’t put any garlic in.”

“Good. I’m tired of the smell.”

“Me too.”

By the time Hakuryuu was done, several plates of different kinds of food were spread across the small table. Even more pleasing than the food was Hakuryuu’s pleased expression as he watched Judar eat between bites of his own, recommending he try this or that with a sauce every now and then. It was hard to explain, but usually the only people watching Judar eat were waiting on him to pay his bill. Hakuryuu’s happiness at his skills being appreciated was a welcome change of pace.

Judar was struck once again with the feeling of attraction he had on walking together with Hakuryuu. For all intents and purposes, they’d just met. Never mind that they’d been nearly inseparable as children - Hakuryuu looked anything but a sniveling brat now, and Judar was… well, just as much of a brat as he’d always been, but hey. Sometimes that’s just how it was.

The scar was new, but it wasn’t bad. It was actually kind of charming. Judar found himself watching it absentmindedly, following the burnt trail down Hakuryuu’s neck with his eyes… how far down did it go?

Hakuryuu must have noticed Judar’s staring because he pulled the collar of his shirt up. “Still going to want dessert?” He asked.

Judar looked down at the dishes in front of him. It didn’t look like he’d made much of a dent in the overall amount, but he was already beginning to feel full. “Well… it ended up being better than I thought it would be. Maybe I’ll have to wait on dessert.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Hakuryuu said. His smile reached his eyes easily.

“Yeah, it’s good. Better than most of what I eat.” He glanced at Hakuryuu’s plate, bits and pieces of his own cooking getting cold as they spoke. “Not hungry? After going through all that effort, too…”

Hakuryuu’s smile stiffened. “I ate a late lunch. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, really? Hmm…”

They talked for a while longer over more tea that was too bitter for Judar to stomach - about his job, about Hakuryuu’s sister (he was worried about her, in a different city all alone now), about the plants that Hakuryuu kept crowded by his living room window. Simple things. Before long, it was late enough that the subways were probably done running for the day.

“I have some homework to do,” Hakuryuu said. “But it was nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah. Hey, give me your number. You promised dessert.”

Hakuryuu obliged. Judar was sure that Hakuryuu knew he’d be getting a lot more texts than just asking about dessert, but he didn’t hesitate. So Judar didn’t hesitate to start texting him. Waiting for Hakuryuu’s responses kept Judar entertained through work the next day. He wanted to meet up again as soon as possible. After all, there hadn’t been anything interesting in Judar’s life until he saw Hakuryuu again. That meant that Hakuryuu was currently the only interesting thing in his life.

They met up again just two days later. Judar was there for dessert, but Hakuryuu made dinner as it was baking anyway. Today’s main dish was perfectly crispy pork with noodles. Judar was thankful for the free food and all, but that didn’t mean he was going to eat the parts he didn’t like.

“What’s this?”

“Pickled chili.”

Judar moved it to the edge of his bowl. “And this?”

“Cilantro… come on, you don’t even know that?”

“Shut up.” He picked that out, too. “This isn’t garlic, is it?”

“No, just ginger.”

Judar thought for a moment before adding it to the vegetable pile.

“That’s ridiculous. You didn’t pick anything out last time.”

“Yeah, but last time you made lots of things. And there were less vegetables.”

“That’s only because you told me not to worry about buying too many…”

“Because they’re gross.”

Hakuryuu sighed. “I would think that you’d change more in fifteen years than you did.”

“Hey, isn’t that a good thing? Less confusing.”

“Except that you were only seven or so then.”

“Come on, no need to worry about the details.” Judar’s eyes slid down to Hakuryuu’s bowl to notice that although he wasn’t eating much, his bowl didn’t have much but broth in it. What was the point of serving himself a bowl with no noodles?

Remembering that Hakuryuu brushed it off last time, Judar didn’t say anything.

It was weird that he knew how to cook so well when he didn’t eat much himself. Hakuryuu did eat some things. But it was always a little different from Judar who wolfed everything down the second it was offered to him. Hakuryuu ate his custard, fresh out of the oven, at a much slower rate than Judar ate his own.

“…”

He wanted this to be _it._ He wanted Hakuryuu to give him what he came here for, but the more he came over, the less it felt like he was actually gonna get it.

Why was it so hard to make a move with this guy? Everyone else was easy!

“So what do you wanna do after we eat?” Judar asked.

“I was planning on doing some homework.”

“When’s it due? If you need a distraction…”

“I definitely do not need to be distracted,” Hakuryuu said with a smile. “Really, it’s like you’ve come straight out of a time capsule.”

“That’s not true! Things’ve changed.”

“Like what?”

“Like, uh… I have abs now!”

Hakuryuu laughed. “Abs? Doubtful, judging by how tiny your arms are.”

Okay, ow. But this was good. He was getting somewhere. Judar scooted away from the table so that Hakuryuu could see him without the table getting in their way, then lifted his shirt. “See?”

“…Hm.”

“Hm!? That’s all you have to say!?”

“I don’t know what else you want me to say,” Hakuryuu said. He leaned back a bit, his palms to the floor. “Sure, you do push-ups. But if you’re trying to impress me, then I’m sorry to say, but there’s no possible way that those abs of yours could do anything in a real fight.”

They weren’t for fighting, but alright, he could work with this. “Try me!”

Hakuryuu lifted his arms from the ground and cracked his knuckles. “You asked for it.”

…Shit, was he gonna regret this!?

Hakuryuu’s hands met his in the blink of an eye. Judar tried to keep him off, but… well, even he could admit it. It was sad. He went down instantly.

Judar gasped at the feeling of his head hitting the ground. Hakuryuu didn’t really mean to hurt him, so he didn’t go down too hard. But it was the concept, see. Conceptually, Hakuryuu slamming him into the floor was breathtaking.

“N, nooo!” Judar protested. It sounded _sooo_ fake. He tried to get his hands free to prove that he was at least a little invested, but it didn’t seem too convincing to him. So how was it supposed to convince Hakuryuu?

Ahhh, this was bad. He meant to keep this up for longer, but here he was, aroused before Hakuryuu did much of anything to him. Was it better to fight back? Or was it better to show Hakuryuu what he was really here for?

That wasn’t a hard choice. It might’ve been if he wasn’t already half-hard, but hey. He came here with a goal in mind, and for once being a horny piece of shit played perfectly into those goals. Judar tilted his chin up, but maintained eye contact. Watched for Hakuryuu’s reaction.

Hakuryuu’s eyebrows furrowed. His eyes darted from Judar’s flushed face to where his own hands pinned him down. The fact that Judar had stopped struggling at all made something click in him. He pulled away. “I, um… sorry.”

“Why?”

Hakuryuu didn’t respond. He was really getting red. Was this his first time turning someone on? Cute. 

When they finished eating, Judar was once again shooed out.

Why was it so damn hard to hit on Hakuryuu? Still, it was fun. The chase was fun. Judar had no intention of giving in before he got what he wanted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really clowning on main these days. if this reads a little different from my other works it's because this is lowkey a horny romcom lol! i am having fun though.

The next time they met, Judar was sure to stress that he’d eaten before coming.

He had a goal in mind, and for once it wasn’t free food. Well. Not that it was really just the food the other times either. But he was serious now!

He was going to figure out which way Hakuryuu swung once and for all, because spending time with him without either of them making a move was starting to drive Judar up a wall.

He’d known the adult Hakuryuu for exactly a week on the Tuesday night he met him at the closest subway station to his apartment. They both had work and Judar lived on the other side of town, so they couldn’t meet until the sun’d already gone down again.

“The dark doesn’t bother you, does it?” Hakuryuu asked. “That’s rare these days.”

“Same goes to you,” Judar said.

“…A lot has changed since then,” Hakuryuu said. His tone was vague in the way people often spoke when they didn’t want to sound too opinionated on something. It was hard to tell what he was trying to say. Or rather… hard to tell what he thought about it.

“Has it?” Hakuryuu was always saying that Judar never changed. So did he mean that he was the one who changed? Call him nosy, but playing dumb was a great way to get people to talk more than they otherwise would have.

“The world is completely different, for starters,” Hakuryuu said as he stared down a deserted street. “There’s a flowering allium on every floor of my apartment. Sometimes two or three.”

Allium, otherwise known as ornamental garlic, was something Judar never thought he’d known the name of as a kid, but anything garlic had become something of a craze, and now it was a household name.

“There are a bunch of those at my complex, too,” Judar said. “But most of them die in a week or two. No one remembers to water them. No idea why they keep bothering to buy them when they all know they’re too lazy to keep it alive for more than a few days.”

Hakuryuu smiled. “They’re all dormant right now. A shame, too. I like the new dedication to cleanliness. The plants are much better than those hanging cloves.”

“Ugh, those are terrible,” Judar said. “And the mirrors! Who wants to see themself every block at eight in the morning!”

“You can get up at eight now?” Hakuryuu teased. “This is news.”

“Hey! I could always do it! I just usually choose not to!”

“I’m sure.”

The world had definitely changed a lot. But Hakuryuu was still walking with him, two steps ahead, leading the way confidently through the dark. He really grew up well.

What was this feeling? He was like a proud parent! But it also wasn’t like that at all. It was a completely different feeling, but the fondness for someone who he once thought of as a far off memory was still there.

There was a checkpoint heading towards the old town that wasn’t there last time. Hakuryuu showed his ID without hesitating, unphased, while Judar only barely bit back a haughty remark when the security guard, armed with one of those newer model silver revolvers, told him he’d best head home earlier next time.

“So what if I live on the other side of town,” Judar grumbled. “I’m still from town. Isn’t that what they’re checking this week?”

“I believe so,” Hakuryuu said. “The news has sensationalized immigration’s link to attacks, so I suppose more check points were inevitable.”

“Why even waste time on night shift? Everyone’s too afraid to do anything in the dark now,” Judar said. “Go to work, go home, no in between. At least in summer they’ll leave their houses for a couple hours between sunrise and sunset. Ugh! Like daytime’s not just as bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard from a hunter that they don’t really burn in the daytime,” Judar said. “Y’know, with sunscreen and clouds and stuff.”

“That sounds like something out of a vampire novel.”

“I’m not that gullible!”

“Really? I think I remember that you were.”

“Was not! You’re thinking of Kougyoku.”

He could barely make out Hakuryuu’s eyes rolling in the dim light. “If you say so.”

By the time they reached Hakuryuu’s apartment, both their jaws were clenched to avoid shivering. It was cold during the day, and worse at night. This time of year was always like that. It was cold and it sucked. When Judar stifled a yawn, his shivering became apparent to Hakuryuu.

“Are you sure you’re fine coming at night?” Hakuryuu asked as he put hot water in the kettle and switched it on. “It’s not the safest area, and this time of year it’s pretty cold. Next time we can meet on the weekend, if you don’t have work.”

“The cold’s whatever, and I don’t believe in all that shit!” Judar said, annoyed. He swallowed his shiver when it tried to come back. Hakuryuu’s apartment was warmer than outside, but it was still colder than a home should be. “What kind of loser’s too scared of getting bitten to walk outside at night? People used to walk outside at night exactly so a stranger’d bite them and give them the time of day.”

Hakuryuu cocked an eyebrow. “You would’ve been too young then to do the same, though.”

“…But they had the right idea! Don’t you think?” 

“Being bitten isn’t exactly a life goal of mine,” Hakruyuu said slowly as he poured them both some tea.

“What about _doing_ the biting, Hakuryuu?”

“I… what?” Hakuryuu said and tensed, before realizing that Judar wasn’t talking about vampires anymore. “I’m not exactly… experienced. I don’t have time for those things.”

“You could make time,” Judar pressed. “Like you made time to cook for me. I mean, it’s not like you don’t have the looks for it?”

Hakuryuu pursed his lips and sized Judar up. His eyes didn’t fall on any one place for too long until his eyes settled on Judar’s lips. “What exactly are you insinuating?”

…What the fuck did insinuating mean?

No, wait, this was his chance. “I dunno,” Judar said. “I wonder?” He couldn’t stop his smile from growing when Hakuryuu got up and moved from the opposite side of the table to right beside Judar, tea forgotten.

They hadn’t known each other as adults for long. Not longer than a couple hours of dinners over the past week. It would be easy for Hakuryuu to phase him out of his life if anything went wrong. That was the feeling Judar got from Hakuryuu’s nervous grip on his own pants as he studied Judar’s face. He wasn’t really close, but he wasn’t far away, either.

“Why?” Hakuryuu asked. “Why are you doing this…?” 

That tone, almost cracking, sparked a memory. Little Hakuryuu who only reached up to his chin had come over to play in the evening. They’d lived two doors down from each other, but Hakuryuu didn’t come over often - when his brothers were home, he’d rather spend time with them instead. Usually Judar was the one to insist he come out and play, not the other way around.

Judar had been really fond of Hakuryuu, and never turned him down. It never even occurred to him to do so. Especially when it was so rare for him to be the one to come over.

“Okay,” he had said. “But we’ve gotta play outside. I’m sick of indoors.” Falan had been in one of her moods that day, and she could be a real pain in the ass when she got like that.

“It’s cold outside,” Hakuryuu had complained and pulled his wide-brimmed hat down on his face, “And I’m hungry. I don’t want to be outside alone.”

“It’s not alone if you’re with me,” Judar had said. “I’m a big kid, you know. Gyokuen said so.”

“I-I mean,” Hakuryuu had stammered. “I don’t like playing outside without my brothers. And, and… it’s cold.”

“Then go home, you baby!” Judar had said, exasperated.

Hakuryuu’s eyes easily filled with tears, and that day was no exception. He’d been such an easy crier - Judar lost count of how many times he’d cried long ago. “Why can’t I just come in?”

His tears might work on his brothers, but not Judar. “I don’t feel like dealing with this today,” Judar had said. “Go get those brothers of yours to take care of you.”

Hakuryuu had run off, crying about how mean he was. Good riddance, he’d thought, and continued his shouting match with Falan as soon as the door was closed - he wasn’t Tess, stop asking him to be Tess, if she wanted him back so much she’d better go dig him up herself.

The usual.

Things hadn’t been great, looking back. They weren’t great. But they weren’t bad either. He always had Hakuryuu to talk with, even if he was a spoiled little brat who had snot running down his chin more often than not. They ate lunches together at school and Judar spent a lot of his time at Hakuryuu’s house, which was more welcoming than his own. When he thought of the past, it was usually about those times.

Judar blinked the memory out of his eyes when Hakuryuu raised an arm to Judar’s shoulder experimentally. 

Judar moved closer in response, silently urging Hakuryuu to close the gap.

He did, briefly. Then pulled right away, and froze a couple inches out.

“That’s all?” Judar asked.

“…What more do you want?”

Judar wrapped his arms around Hakuryuu’s waist. “Like I said, I like being bitten. I like other things, too.”

Hakuryuu gulped. There was a fine line between showing an inexperienced guy the ropes and scaring him off, but Hakuryuu was responding well. The interest was there. He just needed a little guiding hand.

“I can show you,” Judar offered.

“How many people have you…?”

Tsk. That old question. “Nobody important,” Judar said.

That answer satisfied Hakuryuu. He ducked away when Judar moved to kiss him, but pulled his body closer and sighed into their almost-embrace. It wasn’t a real embrace. Not the kind that lovers did or anything. It was more… an experimental embrace. An anxious one. He pulled Judar closer, but only to bring him away from his face.

So that was the game they were playing, was it? Judar didn’t mind, but inexperienced guys usually had trouble getting anywhere when they avoided the easiest part. Just like he expected, Hakuryuu pulled away shortly. The absence of his body heat was immediate in such a cold room.

“Am I also ‘nobody important?’” Hakuryuu asked. Something was bothering him, but it was hard to tell what. Judar wasn’t a mind reader.

“Do you want to be?” Judar asked, then thought better of it. It just didn’t sound right. “Actually, it’s kinda reserved for people I don’t like. So probably not you.”

“I’m flattered.”

Judar tilted his head when Hakuryuu didn’t move. Standing as he was - back against the door, feeling the cold air from the gap under the door on his ankles, Hakuryuu not far away - he wished he’d just make a move.

“How much do you remember?” Hakuryuu asked. He was conscious about his noise level this late, and spoke quietly. “About when we were kids. You were always telling me how you forgot your homework, so I assumed that you’d forgotten me straight away after moving, too…”

“I remember all sorts of stuff,” Judar said easily, and it was true. He didn’t always remember the most useful things. But he did always remember something.

It wasn’t that they were inseparable when they were younger. They were in different grades, and Hakuryuu was always glued to his brothers’ legs. They weren’t inseparable. But that was the closest Judar had ever been to someone else. Even now, fifteen years later, that was true.

He didn’t find too many interesting people nowadays. That was all. 

And he didn’t want to ruin it. But there were a bunch of different ways to ruin things here. There was being too active and there was being too passive. He needed to be delicate. Contrary to what others might think, that _was_ something he was capable of. Hakuryuu wasn’t a one-night stand kind of guy. He was someone who needed work over a longer period of time. He needed to be attacked from various angles.

So Judar smiled and feigned a little confidence. “And I’m not stupid, you know.”

“…What are you talking about? I never said you were stupid.”

Uh-huh. Well, whatever. When he was ready, then.

Judar didn’t normally go sticking his tongue down guys’ throats. Judar was all about being gross, but there was a limit to what he was willing to do with a one-night stand. Hakuryuu was a little different, though. He knew Hakuryuu, and he hadn’t changed at all. Call him naïve, but that was the feeling he got.

“You are a tease,” Hakuryuu muttered. “You’ve been doing this all week. Don’t you have any shame?”

Judar gulped. He could already feel his pants tightening at Hakuryuu’s choice in words. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

Hakuryuu ran his hand through Judar’s hair. When it reached the base of his scalp, he moved it back up to his bangs to grab a handful of hair. He tugged Judar’s face closer to his and held him there by his hair as their mouths connected.

Looked like he finally came to some kind of conclusion. Good. Hakuryuu could call Judar a tease all day, but wasn’t Hakuryuu the real tease here?

Judar opened his mouth greedily, pushing as close as he could with Hakuryuu’s hand in his hair keeping him in place. Hakuryuu returned his enthusiasm.

And then something sharp scraped his tongue. It felt kind of like kissing someone with a tongue piercing. But it wasn’t a piercing. It was something much better.

Hakuryuu pulled away and covered his mouth in one fluid motion, eyes wide. Questioning.

Judar licked his lips. Of course he felt them. How could he not?

He could leave. He could have Hakuryuu killed. Or he could lean closer, towards her ear to whisper.

“Bite me.”

Hakuryuu didn’t recoil. He didn’t react at all for a couple seconds - it was only the sharp intake of breath that gave away the fact that Hakuryuu heard him at all. His eyes, blue in two distinct ways, slowly moved from Judar’s eyes to his neck. To the little choker that he always wore.

“…Why?” Hakuryuu finally asked, eyes back on Judar’s, his voice strained. He had a thick and noticeable lisp with his fangs out, and it took a moment for Judar to understand what he was saying.

“I wanna feel it.”

“Do you realize what you’re asking for?” Hakuryuu asked. 

“Yeah. For you to bite me.”

Judar expected him to argue, try to prove him wrong, tell him not to be an idiot. Or even just kill him on the spot. In a world where vampires were killed for existing, Judar now knew too much. He was a threat to Hakuryuu’s life, so killing him in self-defense would be more than fair. Judar wouldn’t hold a grudge if that was how things didn’t. 

But they didn’t end. Instead, Hakuryuu leaned into him. Brushed his cheek against Judar’s neck. Tried to push the choker away with his nose to smell the strong scent of his blood, but didn’t bring his hands to remove it. It was the last check on his blood lust, after all.

The entire gesture was so wholly precious that Judar was sure in that moment that he wouldn’t care even if Hakuryuu sucked him dry. He almost didn’t notice Hakuryuu’s mouth opening on his throat over the strong feeling of his own excited pulse.

But Hakuryuu didn’t open his mouth to bite. Instead, he spoke. “You aren’t understanding something,” he said. “Unless you’ve settled on this as the best way to kill yourself…”

“You wouldn’t kill me.”

“Why did you have to say anything?” Hakuryuu asked. His voice cracked cutely on the ‘say.’ “If you didn’t, I…” 

“What, would you have pretended like I didn’t know? You won’t live very long if you act like _that_ every time a human figures it out. It’s kill or be killed, right?”

Neither of them moved, but the smell of blood from Judar’s neck was having a profound effect on Hakuryuu. His breath became more irregular, as if he was trying to substitute breathing in the smell of his blood for eating it. But that would never work.

If Hakuryuu bit, Judar’s life would be in danger. If he didn’t bite, Hakuryuu’s life would be in danger. Even with the scent of blood confusing his starved mind, he must have known that. That’s why it was no surprise when he finally moved his hands.

At heart, Hakuryuu was a selfish person. He undid the clasp at the back of Judar’s neck and, without even taking the time to drop the choker, he trailed his extended fangs from the center of his neck to over the vein he’d breathed in earlier, licked a thin trail of saliva across it, and bit.

The bite didn’t hurt. The sensation of fangs pushing into his neck was much less dramatic than news stories would have him believe. As soon as he’d pushed his fangs in, Hakuryuu removed them to suck on the wound lightly. A strange giddiness slowly spread through Judar’s body from his neck.

It felt more like a kiss than a bite. But Hakuryuu was clearly drinking from him. He held tightly onto Judar’s shirt, pushing his neck closer to the wall as he tried to coerce more blood to leave his pierced vein. Not satisfied with the small stream, he bit an oval around the bite to push more blood out. Judar groaned. _That_ hurt. Hakuryuu lapped it up, lovingly, lustfully, moaning low but openly as if he was past the point of caring about his pride. Judar was sure that Hakuryuu didn’t notice the obscene tone of his own voice because he just continued as he had been.

The smell of blood went to Judar’s head quickly. Or maybe it was the blood loss, or the sick giddiness. It quickly became difficult to breathe. When he tried to push Hakuryuu away so he’d stop trying to force the wound farther open, Hakuryuu responded by pinning him down harshly. Instinctively.

“Ow!”

With his head still a foot away from Judar’s neck, Hakuryuu blinked at the sound. His glossy eyes became slightly more aware, darting from Judar’s neck to the smeared blood on his shirt. Hakuryuu brought a finger to his own mouth and wiped the blood off his lips that was dripping so carelessly to the floor. Then he blinked again.

His first thought must have been that he was being wasteful, because he scrunched up his face a bit with annoyance. Then he looked back to Judar, whose arms he’d pinned to the floor to keep from trying to block the bite.

“Ah… ah, I…”

Hakuryuu panicked. If Judar had been more aware, it would have been funny watching him look around, shocked and nervous, at something he’d been doing so wholeheartedly just a few seconds before.

Despite his panic, Hakuryuu was pretty reasonable. He didn’t just stand around and wave his arms. He used a dish cloth to stop the bleeding, pressing it firmly but gently. He held it there.

Seconds passed. Maybe minutes. It took a while, but Hakuryuu eventually pulled the cloth away and sighed in relief when blood didn’t squirt back out.

By then Judar was reasonably aware, if a bit lightheaded.

Once Hakuryuu made absolutely sure that the bleeding had stopped for sure, he brought a new cloth to wash the blood off with. Judar tried to take it to do himself but Hakuryuu batted his hand away.

“It’s fine, I can do it,” Judar complained. His words came out more strained than he thought they would, and Hakuryuu looked doubtful.

“No, you can’t. Your hands are shaking too much.”

“Are they? I didn't notice.” But when he looked at them, sure enough, he was shaking like a madman. “Whoa.”

“…It’s from my saliva. It weakens humans through a few separate means, one of which being shakiness. It’s harder to run on shaky legs.”

Judar didn’t know what to say, so he just hummed in agreement. It should have struck him sooner, but Hakuryuu really was a real vampire. He did real vampire things, like suck humans dry on the streets. Wow.

Once Hakuryuu cleaned and dressed the wound (a bit overkill for such a little bite, really), he became restless again.

For a second, Judar considered taunting him for biting when he knew he’d regret it. Or rather, for not killing him when he knew he’d regret it. But there was no point in pushing his luck. So he closed his eyes for a moment. They felt heavy when he tried to open them. So he kept them closed for a little.

“Hey, Hakuryuu. What time is it?”

“Eleven. Why?”

“Well, I’ve gotta get home eventually. Unless I get to stay here?”

“…Not ‘get to.’ You can’t leave.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can walk fine, look.” Judar opened his eyes and stood, shaky. Even if it took forever, he would get home eventually.

“You can’t leave,” Hakuryuu repeated.

“Why?”

“Your neck is all bandaged up. You smell like blood. Anyone could see what happened.”

“Maybe I got in a fight and someone tried to slit my neck. You never know. Sometimes people forget this nowadays, but humans do some weird shit too. It’s not just the vampires.”

“You’d be stopped for questioning by the first officer you pass for being so woozy so late.. See if that excuse holds up after they take the bandage off.”

“Think I’d bleed out on them?”

Hakuryuu huffed. “Don’t be an idiot. You’re staying here.” Then, softer: “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Uh… Not really…”

Hakuryuu smiled with relief. His fangs hadn’t fully retracted yet, but his eyes didn’t stray back to Judar’s neck. “I’m going to make you some soup. You need to drink it all. Understand?”

“I already ate,” Judar complained.

“You need to rehydrate yourself. I won’t put any vegetables in it, so just do as you’re told.”

Maybe it was the blood loss, but it was kinda hot when Hakuryuu took that tone of voice and told him what to do. Judar nodded before he realized it, and when Hakuryuu smiled in relief, those bloodied fangs still sticking out far past his lips, Judar gulped.

There were worse places to be stuck all night. That was for sure.

“So have you ever done this before?” Judar asked as Hakuryuu started some cold stock on the stove.

“Done what? Fed? Of course I have. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“No, I mean… let someone live.”

“I used to,” Hakuryuu said. “It used to be easy to let people go, back when people didn’t believe we were real. We’d knock them out, take a pint or two, and pose them like they’d passed out from a wild night. It was simple. No one ever knew.”

“But now they do,” Judar said.

“Yes,” Hakuryuu agreed. “Now they do. Now I kill them.”

“So I’m the first in awhile.”

“You’re the first who’s ever known it was me,” Hakuryuu mumbled. “But I just can’t bring myself to…”

Judar smiled. Hakuryuu hadn’t changed at all. Through his dizziness, he can easily tell that this is the same Hakuryuu that he looked forward to seeing every day so many years ago. He didn’t have to deal with Falan when he was with Hakuryuu. They’d stay inside during the day, usually, playing board games or hand-helds and snacking on nuts and fruits and drinking cold tea. The same thing they’d been doing earlier. At night Judar made Hakuryuu hunt bugs with him. Hakuryuu always worried about getting lost, because he didn’t know how to read maps without his brothers leaning over his shoulder. The good ol’ days.

When Judar tried to kiss him, Hakuryuu pushed him back away, careful to steady him as he did so. “Stop,” he said. “You’re tired. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I do know,” he said. “You already ate, so you’re not hungry anymore. Right? Now you can kiss me.” 

When he tried a second time, Hakuryuu let him. Judar led the way, pushing his tongue into Hakuryuu’s mouth. It tasted like metal. Like blood. His mouth was still numb and kissing him made his tongue sluggish.

Hakuryuu pulled away. “You need to go to sleep.”

“No I don’t,” Judar said. Now he was the one talking strangely. His mouth was tingling and weak. It felt good.

“Yes, you do. You might not have realized it yourself yet, but my saliva has an effect similar to painkillers on humans. You’re hardly in the right state of mind.

He did notice it, actually. There was no way his spit wasn’t laced if he felt like this. But painkillers, huh? They could bottle that stuff up and sell it.

Hakuryuu led him to the bathroom while Judar considered the logistics of bottled Hakuryuu spit.

“Here,” Hakuryuu said, handing him a toothbrush. He tossed the cardboard packaging in the trash. Must’ve just opened it while Judar was zoning out. “It’s new.”

Judar took it and spread a little toothpaste on. So this was what Hakuryuu cleaned his mouth with. He wanted to know about Hakuryuu. They had a lot of years to bridge the gap with. What brand of toothbrush and toothpaste he used was a good of a start as any.

…Actually, it wasn’t too different from what Judar used. It felt exactly the same.

“I can sleep on the floor,” Hakuryuu said once Judar finished brushing his teeth.

“Huh? Why?”

“I only have one bed.”

Judar almost laughed. “Sleep with me,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”

“Sleeping isn’t fun. It’s just sleeping,” Hakuryuu said. Even so, he followed Judar back to his room and watched as Judar flopped down on his bed.

“Come on,” Judar said. “It’s a queen size. Not like there’s not room?”

“That’s not the—”

“Your guest will be more comfy with you here too,” Judar said. 

Hakuryuu sighed, unable to argue Judar’s infallible logic. After a moment of hesitation he gave in and did his best to get comfortable beside Judar while remaining as tense as possible.

So this was how Hakuryuu slept. He didn’t have any extra blankets, but he was hot at Judar’s side, so it didn’t really feel like they needed any even though it was the dead of winter.

“Kiss me again,” Judar said. His voice came out groggy just like it did earlier. He didn’t care. Hakuryuu knew what he sounded like when he was tired. He used to take naps at his house all the time.

“No,” Hakuryuu said. “You need to sleep.”

“Come on. It feels good.”

Hakuryuu obliged. His hesitation was apparent in his light touch to the back of Judar’s head to angle him closer. He was conflicted about all this, wasn’t he?

Hakuryuu needed some confidence. Judar pulled him to the side, urging him on top. When he re-positioned himself, Judar bucked his hips up to him.

Hakuryuu gasped. “Y-you need to sleep,” he forced out. “You lost a lot of blood.”

“You’re no fun,” Judar mumbled. “I want to do more than just sleep… mm…” 

He _was_ tired, though. And they could always fuck in the morning. Hakuryuu was still pretty into the idea from the looks of it. Just not the timing.

So he closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for Judar to fall into a light sleep.

Normally it was hard to sleep somewhere unfamiliar, but just like Hakuryuu said, he was tired. That was why it was annoying when he didn’t sleep for long. Instead he woke in the middle of the night to arms strong around his waist and something hard against his ass.

That’s what going to sleep unsatisfied would do. Hakuryuu should’ve just listened the first time.

He felt really drained. It was hard to tell what part of everything had caused it, but he was tired as hell. Still, Judar wasn’t the type to leave guys wanting more. He pulled away just enough to turn around to face Hakuryuu.

Judging by his deep breaths, Hakuryuu was asleep.

“Hey,” Judar said. Even though he said it to wake Hakuryuu up, his voice came out quiet.

Hakuryuu inhaled deeply and squinted his eyes tightly before finally opening them. It took awhile for his eyes to focus on Judar.

“You’re hard,” Judar said. “It woke me up. Want me to get you off?”

It was only at that point that Hakuryuu looked around and realized his arms were wrapped around Judar, their waists pressed together. Before he could pull away Judar pushed himself closer, tossing a leg over Hakuryuu’s.

“Go back to sleep,” Hakuryuu said. Even he had a half-awake voice, and there was something exciting about hearing it in the dark. “Sorry for waking you up. I’ll take a shower.”

…Well, whatever. It was worth a try.

When the sound of running water echoed into the bedroom, Judar lazily pushed a hand over his own half-hard cock. He was tired.

It did feel kinda trashy to jerk off in another guy’s bed before ever getting fucked by said guy, but hey. He was horny and it was late and Hakuryuu was honor-bound or whatever to not touch him now that he’d nearly sucked him dry. Whatever, he got it. At least he still had enough blood in his body to get hard.

It did take longer than expected, though. He came onto his own stomach and shirt. He really knew better than to leave a mess like that, but he was tired. It was Hakuryuu’s own fault for blue-balling him if he came back and felt gross about the cum. So Judar closed his eyes again, sighed, and went back to sleep before Hakuryuu shut the water off.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a Wednesday and Judar was in an unfamiliar bed.

It wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t a super common occurrence either, and that was only doubly true lately. He didn’t get out much. Like… it wasn’t that he was trying to become a hermit or anything, but the state of the world wasn’t all too conducive to going around and doing fun things. So he didn’t do a lot of fun things, which meant that he didn’t wake up in a lot of strange beds.

Anyway, Judar didn’t mind waking up somewhere weird. Usually that turned out pretty fun. Like, he _usually_ didn’t get robbed, and they usually gave him free food after fucking him day and night. Though their food pretty much always sucked since no one wanted to waste real money trying to feed some guy they were never going to see again.

Judar was a little bothered by the fact that he wasn’t sore, though. Usually he was sore as hell from a good night. His tired mind immediately took that as a sign that last night wasn’t nearly as fun as he thought it’d be. He was leaning more towards being kidnapped than willingly coming and getting fucked against a wall.

When he tried to stand, Judar fell backwards into the bed the first two times. Which was weird because he wasn’t sore.

That wasn’t good, but he had it happen before when he was dehydrated. He should probably do a better job of that, but bottled water was money he could be spending on something more fun, and he didn’t have a kettle to boil whatever the hell it was that poured out of the half-rusted faucets in his cheap ass apartment. So he pretty much just had water when he went out to eat.

Wait, though. Maybe the kidnapping theory did have some weight. Maybe he was drugged and taken to a soft and warm bed that was secretly inside of a sex dungeon. Maybe things weren’t as boring as he thought they’d be!

Enough being stupid inside his head, though. It wasn’t like anyone could appreciate his impressively great jokes right now anyway.

Last night was slowly coming back to him. The whole blood sucking thing probably had more to do with his dizziness and fuzzy memories than dehydration, so he was safe. He didn’t have to drink any water. He just had to make new blood. Yaaay.

He managed to find his balance after a couple minutes of sitting on the edge of the bed. It’d been quiet the whole time he was here, so Hakuryuu was probably out. He was still a student, so it was probably school. Oh well. Hakuryuu’s home was his home now. That was what happened when he left Judar unattended.

Judar lumbered out to the living room with a yawn, still a little unsteady on his feet. Honestly, he felt kind of numb, but that wasn’t all that concerning when he was hungry and knew where he was as well as where the refrigerator was. Hakuryuu’s bed was way comfier than Judar’s own. There were probably some leftovers in the… 

Judar’s train of thought faded as he stared, mouth agape, at the hole between the fridge and counters. There was a stove there last night. Now there was just an outlet. There wasn’t even any dust! Who the hell didn’t have dust under their stove! It was incomprehensible that he had to tell someone immediately.

He turned on his heel to go look for his phone to tell Hakuryuu that his stove had grown legs and run off when he saw the escapee pushed up against the front door.

Then it clicked.

The stove was blocking the door. He literally couldn’t leave. No wonder Hakuryuu kept telling that he couldn’t last night. Apparently that was for real? That was so shocking. It was too early to be shocked, though, so he was mostly just annoyed at the mild inconvenience this early in the morning..

Anyway, Judar went right back the way he came to give Hakuryuu an earful on the phone.

Maybe it was because he was still half asleep, or even three-quarters asleep. Maybe it was because it was an unfamiliar apartment and he didn’t know where all the nooks and crannies that stole phones were yet. Either way, he gave up after twenty minutes of throwing the pillows and blankets off his bed. He’d just make Hakuryuu find it later.

Instead of putting Hakuryuu’s room back together, Judar opted to spend the rest of the day in the living room. Since the table was basically his home now, it didn’t take long for him to notice a faded sticky note in the center.

> Gone to class.
> 
> There’s leftover broth in the refrigerator. I’ve separated it into two containers. Warm one up (in the kettle is fine) to have with breakfast and another with lunch. Don’t burn yourself. There’s fresh rice in the rice cooker. I’ll be back at four.
> 
> Hakuryuu

Wow. Just wow.

Whatever would he do without Hakuryuu telling him exactly what to eat, when to eat it, and how to eat it.

Nevermind that his tendency towards bossiness had its charms.

It was by chance that Judar actually was hungry. By absolute chance. So he did what the note told him to do with pretty minimal grumbling. It wasn’t like Hakuryuu could see him grumbling anyway. He’d save the worst of it for when they were face-to-face again this afternoon.

After drinking some broth and eating two bowls of rice, Judar decided to explore a little.  
Hakuryuu’s apartment was nice, but it wasn’t luxury. It wasn’t much bigger than Judar’s, but it was nicer. It had wood floors and the walls were white instead of used-to-be-white. But Judar hadn’t seen the shower yet, and he was _very_ particular about his showers.

All the annoyance of being locked in melted into excitement when Judar found something even better than what he’d been imagining.

It wasn’t just a shower. No… it was a shower, yeah, but also a bath! He had a full bath!

It wasn’t something that others usually expected or understood about him, but Judar liked routines. He liked to wash his hair for an hour and braid it for an hour. He liked his body to be as clean as he could get it, even if he didn’t like to clean his house.

It wasn’t fun or anything. He liked having all those things behind him more than he liked doing them. The motions were repetitive, vaguely relaxing, and being dirty was gross. He turned the bath’s handle towards hot, holding a hand under the stream to adjust the temperature with. It didn’t go as hot as Judar’s, but it filled up before it went cold, so it was tolerable. But only because it was a real bath.

He washed his body with Hakuryuu’s soap and his hair with Hakuryuu’s shampoo. He was even kind enough to finish off a whole bottle of his conditioner. If Hakuryuu didn’t want to shell out some money for conditioner, then he needed to hold someone with less hair hostage next time.

He’d woken up pretty damn late, and after bathing and fixing his hair, it was a quarter to four.

So he sat at the table and waited.

The sound of a key pushing into the door’s lock caught Judar’s attention after about half an hour. Maybe it wasn’t an entire hour, but it sure as hell felt like it when he’d just been sitting there staring at the wall, so he jumped up out of excitement.

Finally. Finally!

He finally understood the emotion that flooded dog’s brains when their owners came home. If he had a tail, he’d be wagging it too.

When the lock clicked, the door was pushed with enough force to slide the stove farther into the room, giving Hakuryuu just enough space to slide in with an arm full of grocery bags.

“Hakuryuu!”

Hakuryuu’s eyes went wide when he looked Judar’s way. He looked like he’d forgotten his part in a play and was instead staring agape at the audience. If he felt bad about the whole stove thing, Judar was already over it. He watched as Hakuryuu picked it up effortlessly to move back to its location in the kitchen before returning to pick the groceries up off the floor.

“Not gonna keep it there anymore?” Judar asked. “I was just getting used to it.”

“No need,” Hakuryuu said. “As long as I’m here, I can keep an eye on you.”

“Oh. Here I thought you were gonna let me go.”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Uhh…”

Well, that was a good question now that he mentioned it. Hakuryuu had been pretty damn clear about not letting Judar leave the last time they spoke, for reasons that hardly needed explained.

“Well, I mean… I’ll get bored in here?” Judar tried.

Hakuryuu scoffed. “We can just do things that you want to do for entertainment.”

“Yeah, but I’ll still get bored eventually! Probably.”

Hakuryuu closed the distance between them and put a hand on Judar’s head. “You should have thought about that before provoking me last night.”

“I did want you to do all that stuff though,” Judar said. “I do want you to do it, I mean.”

“Then act like it.” His hand, still in Judar’s hair, balled into a fist, holding his bangs off his face. “This is what that means. I will decide where you can or can’t go. Not you.”

Wow. That was hot. Judar swallowed, and Hakuryuu smiled.

“That’s what I thought.”

It was only then that Hakuryuu relaxed. More than relaxed, it was like he had stepped off stage and could now make the expressions he wanted to make rather than the expressions his role demanded.

No fair, Hakuryuu… but Judar was still feeling a little lightheaded, and now a little headachy too. It wasn’t all that conducive to arguing. So he just went with it.

“At least I don’t have to go to work,” Judar said with a shrug. Hakuryuu would figure out his next move in a couple days anyway. This wouldn’t last forever.

“Uh, right,” Hakuryuu mumbled, guilt contorting his brow. “I think you should quit your job for now.”

“…What?”

“Quit your job.”

“Why?”

“Because you won’t be able to go to it for a while,” Hakuryuu explained quickly, as if it were obvious. He took a phone from his pocket and handed it to Judar.

“Hey, this is mine! I was looking for it!”

“Call your boss and quit.”

“…Fine. But you’re paying for me to eat, got it?” 

Hakuryuu smiled. “If that’s what it takes, then sure. I’ll even make some of your favorites.” Even through his inexperience, he was quickly learning all about the effect talking like that had on Judar.

While Judar waited for his boss to pick up her phone, Hakuryuu started a kettle and then set to the task of putting away the groceries.

It was a pretty easy conversation. His boss hated Judar and everything he stood for, so instead of sounding upset, she actually sounded happy that they’d never see each other ever again. He couldn’t help but feel a bit sad after she hung up. Like, they spent all that time together, and she didn’t even want to yell at him one last time? Bleeeh.

“Now give that back,” Hakuryuu said, motioning towards Judar’s phone.

“What? No.”

“Just do it.”

“Trust me a little,” Judar said. “I won’t sell you out. We’ll be partners in crime, just like back in the day.”

“Nothing like that ever happened,” Hakuryuu said. “You just blamed me when things went wrong so you wouldn’t have to be punished alone.”

“Okay, fine. Partners in punishment. But my point still stands.”

“Partners, huh?” Hakuryuu repeated. He poured himself another cup of tea. Apparently he already finished his first cup while pacing and putting things away as Judar talked on the phone. “Then tell me. Who’s Sinbad?”

…Aw, shit. Of all the dumb shit to go snooping in. But he wouldn’t let things go sour now. Not after all of his hard work. Judar quickly recovered. “If you read my texts, you already know the answer to that. How’d you get my passcode?”

“I guessed it.”

“Without getting locked out?”

“I did, a few times. But I had ten hours to try. By the way, you should come up with a more secure pin. The probability of me guessing it should be one in ten thousand, but it only took me a day.”

“Huh. You don’t give up, do you?”

The corner of Hakuryuu’s mouth flickered up like he wanted to smile, but failed to see it through. “I thought you’d be a little angrier about it, but you’re taking it well.”

Judar shrugged. “Anyone who’d push the oven in front of the door to keep me in means business.”

“It’s a matter of life and death for me.”

“Should’ve just killed me,” Judar said through a yawn. He didn’t really mean it, but it was fun to see Hakuryuu squirm. “Would be a lot faster. Hey, what’s for dinner? I’m hungry.”

“Have you been dizzy at all today?” Hakuryuu asked.

“What’s that got to do with food?”

“Just answer me.”

“Uh… no,” Judar lied.

Hakuryuu raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. “I bought a pound of ground pork. I thought you’d like some meat after losing so much blood.”

“Seriously, that’s got nothing to do with food.”

Hakuryuu sighed. “And I thought you were the human. When you lose a lot of blood, you need to replenish your iron. Meat is the best way to do so - the iron in it is already bound how your body would bind it, and… oh, forget it. I don’t know why I bother when it’s obvious you don’t care.”

“I mean, who does?” Judar mumbled. “Meat sounds good, though. I’m starving.”

“I’ll season it and fry some up for noodles, but once we finish I’m going to make dumplings with the rest. Also, I bought you some iron supplements,” he said and handed Judar a plastic pill bottle. “Take one pill three times a day. One when you wake up, one when you eat lunch, and one before you go to sleep.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re anemic. But if you’d rather blood transfusions, be my guest.”

Judar shrugged and popped a pill in his mouth. He almost spit it back out the second it touched his tongue, and reached for his tea to chug it down.

“Disgusting,” he said as he wiped tea from his lips. “Tastes like a dead body.”

“Really? I thought they smelled good.”

“Wow, you have shity tastebuds.”

“I’m a vampire,” Hakuryuu deadpanned. “I drink blood. Obviously I don’t think the same things taste good as you do.”

Hakuryuu did what he said he’d do and fried up some ground meat and noodles. They were really good. Super refreshing in the drafty living room. It wasn’t as drafty as Judar’s, of course, but after being anywhere for awhile, one was bound to treat it like the new standard. Which kind of sucked. Especially when he slept with someone with actual money and then went home and had that moment where it was like, damn, I live in a shithole.

But anyway.

It was drafty and Hakuryuu made him stay at the table after dinner. He brought the rest of the meat out of the refrigerator and placed it between them, then started rolling it into balls.

“……”

It took forever and a day for the first one. Was Hakuryuu really going to make him sit here and watch this…? Here Judar thought that he’d have a fun night, since he was already here and all.

But nooo. Fun for Hakuryuu apparently meant rolling meat into balls. 

“Make yourself useful,” Hakuryuu said. He pushed the bowl of mincemeat towards Judar.

Judar really thought about making a run for the door. But he did want those dumplings later, and they were free anyway, and his apartment was even draftier, so… 

“Smaller,” Hakuryuu said as soon as Judar grabbed a handful of meat from the bowl.

“Why do you care? It’s my dumpling.”

“If you want me to steam it with the rest, it’s going to need to be the same size as the rest.”

Judar grumbled, but ultimately, he did as he was told. They finished rolling the seasoned meat into balls. Then Hakuryuu presented him with some dough. He’d been working on it on the side while making dinner.

Hakuryuu was fast in the kitchen. It was neat, but kind of useless, since he was a vampire and all.

The outside of the dumplings was way harder than the inside. The dough wasn’t as strong as it looked.

“You have to be more gentle,” Hakuryuu said when Judar accidentally ripped a hole in the dough while trying to wrap the meat for what felt like the thousandth time but was probably only the third.

“Can’t believe I’m hearing that from _you_.”

“That’s strange. All the other times I’ve told you what to do, you’ve gotten flustered.”

Damn, he was sharp. Judar tried to ignore his face heating up to focus on rolling dumplings, but Hakuryuu didn’t give up that easily.

“And you were so forthcoming about telling me to bite you,” Hakuryuu said. “Where did that confidence go? It can’t be any harder to admit you like being told what to do.”

“I only said that about biting ‘cause I figured you out,” Judar said.

“Don’t try to say it wasn’t true now. Not after _begging_ me to bite you.”

“I don’t beg!”

Hakuryuu tilted his head, a mean smile on his lips. “Then what do you do?” When Judar couldn’t think of a response, Hakuryuu took the empty bowl to the sink to clean. 

Judar had only finished two dumplings, but Hakuryuu managed to make several dozen perfectly shaped crescent moons.

“I can put them away. Come wash your hands,” Hakuryuu said.

“I was gonna! Who do you think I am?” At the sink Judar flicked water at him. Hakuryuu flicked some back.

Deja vu. Suddenly Judar could remember doing the same thing as kids. Back then, they both stood on the same stool to reach the sink. They got too into flicking water at each other, and Hakuryuu slipped and tried to steady himself on Judar. It didn’t work. They both fell, crashing into each other and the floor loud enough to make Hakuryuu’s sister come running.

“You really are the same brat,” Judar said. He flicked more water, this time at Hakuryuu’s face.

“Do you remember…?”

“Yeah.” 

Hakuryuu turned the faucet off. “I… wondered, when you moved away. What would happen to you. If you’d ever do your homework without me reminding you to, and what your new parents would be like… if they’d be better than your late foster mother. Better than Gyokuen.”

“Gyokuen,” Judar repeated. He’d liked her a lot when he first met her, but by the time Falan died, he was starting to see the cracks. It didn’t surprise him that Hakuryuu wasn’t calling her ‘mother.’ “She still around?”

“No,” Hakuryuu said simply. “Not anymore.”

“How’re, uh… how’re your brothers?”

“They’re not around anymore. Gyokuen killed them.”

They stood for a second, wet hands dripping into the sink, before Hakuryuu remembered to get a dish towel from the kitchen drawer. He dried his own hands, then gave it to Judar to dry his. “Good riddance to her,” Judar said.

“She was killed,” Hakuryuu said. Like it was someone else’s problem. “Not by a human. By another vampire.”

Judar dropped the dish towel back into Hakuryuu’s waiting hands. “As expected,” he said, and raised a still-damp hand to rub Hakuryuu’s head. He was strong. Judar probably wouldn’t have been able to do that alone. The thought would cross his mind, but he’d never really do it.

Hakuryuu could, though. Just a feeling he had.

The tension between them seemed to melt against their shared nostalgia. Did it really matter if Hakuryuu had him trapped here? Well, yeah, kind of. But it mattered more that he was Hakuryuu.

Also, Judar was a parody of himself, and knowing that Hakuryuu was a sexy murderous vampire did a lot to make him brush all the fucked up parts of this under the rug. There was no denying that vampires were a major turn on to anyone with taste, and even through their heartfelt conversation, the details of how to get Hakuryuu into his pants were forming in the back of his mind.

So this was the plan: Judar would somehow get pressed against the kitchen wall. Hakuryuu would see this, and then Judar would do this delicate head tilt thing and sigh like a 19th century bodice-ripper heroine and tug at the hem of his shirt, claiming that it was hot even though he just bitched about the cold like five minutes ago, and then Hakuryuu would help him out of his shirt and bite his neck… etc etc.

Anyway, step one was to get his back to the wall.

How he was going to do that wasn’t all that important. Like, Hakuryuu already knew that he was a horny bastard. He couldn’t mess this up. Hakuryuu would understand what he was trying to do whether it was smooth or not.

Judar accomplished step one with the utmost grace. Or, to put it frankly, he yawned because it was kinda late, and then walked a little like he was gonna go to the bedroom, but that was too obvious and also not that conducive to getting his neck bit, so he stopped at the kitchen wall.

Hakuryuu sighed. Loudly.

See? It was working!

Step two: delicate head tilt. Three, two, one— 

“You aren’t very subtle, are you?”

Judar laughed. “Do I need to be subtle?”

“No, not really. It’s fairly pointless coming from you either way. I already know what you want.”

“Knew it. So are you gonna bite me?” 

“I shouldn’t. You’ll end up in the hospital with severe anemia if I keep biting you.”

“So what?” Judar asked.

“They’d check your neck, then come here and kill me.”

“…Yeah, that’d suck. But it’s fine. I just won’t get anemic,” Judar said.

“You’re _already_ anemic, idiot.”

“Details, details. C’mon, my neck’s right here.” Step three: tug at the hem of his shirt. “It’s so hot in here. I need you to take my shirt off.”

“Just stop. It’s embarrassing to watch.”

“Then why’s your lisp coming out, huh? I see them! I see your fangs coming out from under your lips! Ha! I win.”

“Since when was this a competition?” Hakuryuu asked.

“Since now. Just go with it, Hakuryuu. Let me have this.”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes, but he still complied with Judar’s selfish desire.

That was why they worked. Why they always worked. When Judar did something selfish like get Hakuryuu in trouble with him, Hakuryuu took the punishment with him, even though he didn’t do anything wrong. They were partners in punishment. Partners in crime.

Was that too sappy for someone he barely knew? Probably. But nostalgia was a bitch.

Their lips met. Judar could feel Hakuryuu’s fangs and Hakuryuu could feel the warmth of human blood pulsating inside of Judar’s tongue. It wasn’t good for either of them, but at the same time, it was impossible to deny the appeal of it all.

Hakuryuu’s fangs extended slightly, but didn’t reach the size from yesterday. He was probably too hungry to kiss like this before, but now that he’d eaten, he was far more forward with his tongue. With the motions of kissing. But not with his teeth. Not with his fangs.

In short, he’d kiss, but he wouldn’t bite. Apparently he was serious about the anemia thing.

Kissing was just boring. It’d be better when they got to the fucking.

Judar pressed his body against Hakuryuu. Mercifully, Hakuryuu did the same. This was how it was supposed to be. If Hakuryuu was going to keep Judar in his house against his will, he better at least have the decency to fuck Judar against the kitchen wall.

He could feel Hakuryuu’s fangs in his mouth and his cock through his pants. This morning was disappointing. He wanted to wake up sore.

“…Mm!”

Sharp pain shot through Judar’s lips. A second later, he tasted blood.

“S-sorry!” Hakuryuu said. As he pulled away, he placed a hand between Judar’s mouth and his own to keep himself from lunging at the ferrous smell.

“What’d you stop for?” Judar asked. His mouth was a little numb, and his words came out slow. Vampire spit was weird. He liked it.

“…You really do like being bit,” Hakuryuu mumbled. He glanced between Judar’s lack of interest in their earlier kissing and his own complete interest, looking embarrassed. “That’s difficult for me.”

“Why? You’re a vampire. Biting’s your thing.”

“It’s _because_ I’m a vampire,” Hakuryuu said. Sometimes, like now, his tone tended towards know-it-all. “It’s dangerous for me to bite you.”

“What’s wrong with a little danger?”

“I—you—,” he stammered, then paused to collect his thoughts. “I don’t want to kill you. But if you have something in mind other than biting, I can try to help…”

“Anything,” Judar said. “Do anything you want to me. Even if you don’t trust me, I trust you. Just don’t be boring.”

“There must be things even you don’t like.”

“Fine, one thing. Don’t pull my hair so hard it comes out. It took forever to grow out. That’s it.”

“Okay,” Hakuryuu said and ran his hand through his hair. “Okay.” He was taking this really well - he was a forceful person at heart. That much was obvious from earlier. Because of his unfamiliar interest (read: horniness), Hakuryuu was a little antsy, tapping his fingers on the wall, and he gulped before continuing. “And if you want me to stop…?”

“I’ll just tell you to stop,” Judar said. “Can we get on with it now?”

“Don’t be so impatient,” Hakuryuu said. He gulped again to steel his resolve. “Come on. Off the wall.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You asked for this, so do what I say.”

Wow, yeah. That was good. Hakuryuu’s expression faltered after he spoke, but at Judar’s open mouthed interest, he regained some confidence.

Hakuryuu led him to the bedroom. It was funny. Their kissing earlier was fun and all, but it didn’t do anything for Judar until Hakuryuu’s fangs pricked his lips. But now that Hakuryuu was taking the lead and clumsily motioning for Judar to lay in his bed, excitement bubbled in his chest.

A sparkling new dom was still a dom, right? Right. Judar might have to tell him what to do for now, but Hakuryuu would get the hang of things eventually. At least, he hoped so. Telling other people to tell him what to do got old real fast.

Judar removed his clothes without Hakuryuu telling him to. Only then did Hakuryuu do the same.

Ughhh.

Of course he was enjoying Hakuryuu’s interest. It was just hard, as a hopeless sub, to tell a prospective dom what to do. It was supposed to be the other way around!

Judar spread his legs. “Come on, Hakuryuu. Can’t you smell my blood anymore?”

Hakuryuu gulped.

“Make me yours.”

“Stop telling me what to do.”

Yes! Finally.

They didn’t kiss, probably because Hakuryuu was worried about going too far. They did the rest the right way—with Hakuryuu holding his legs open and giving Judar a Look.

Their bodies did the rest.

The bed creaked as Hakuryuu pushed into him, a rhythmic tap-tap-tap of the mattress against the frame. He started off slow. Slower than Judar liked.

“Is that all?” Judar asked. It was underwhelming at best.

Anyone who knew the first thing about Judar knew that he liked it rough. But Hakuryuu was his childhood friend. They’d met in a different time under very different circumstances than everyone else Judar spent his time with, so he didn’t know this side of Judar yet. Even so, he was a fast learner. Once he was comfortable with the motion itself, he pushed deep enough to elicit a gasp.

“Harder.”

Deeper still.

“Harder!”

Enough to _hurt_.

Unfortunately, Hakuryuu was still inexperienced. He finished faster than Judar would have liked.

Still, it was good. It didn’t take _that_ long for Judar to finish himself against Hakuryuu’s stomach. He was done before Hakuryuu pulled out.

For now, Judar would rate it about a 5/10. Not terrible, but there was tons of room for improvement. In other words, Hakuryuu just needed some confidence, and Judar was more than happy to give it to him.

“That was good,” Judar said. “You’re good. For a virgin.”

“Do you always want it so…?”

“Pretty much.” It was more of a fetish than a kink at this point.

“You never want normal sex?”

“I get bored with it. Outside of bed, too. Boring guys are the worst.” It was easier to say that into a pillow after Hakuryuu fucked him into a dreamy state of mind than it would have been this morning. He liked acting it out and joking around, but sincerely asking someone to dominate him in broad daylight was a tall order.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Hakuryuu said. The bed creaked as he sat up. “I have to freeze the dumplings. We forgot them on the table.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Get dressed.” 

Judar groaned. Hakuryuu was right. He was always right, which made him right at this moment, so getting up and getting dressed had to be the right thing to do. He just didn’t feel like getting up. “I’m comfy,”

“You wanted fruit, didn’t you?”

“Later.”

“No, we’re going as soon as I’ve frozen the dumplings, and—”

“Nooo. Let me sleep. It’s been a long day, you know!”

“How long did you sleep in?”

“…Uh… I’m pretty sure there’s this thing, right? The right to remain silent.” 

“You’re terrible.”

The sad thing was that Hakuryuu gave up there. He was supposed to be a dom, but there was a lot to leave desired.

At least his heart was in it, right? The worst that could happen was Judar having to mold him into his own personal dom, the exact person he wanted to boss him around. Even if it took forever, it’d be worth the wait. So he let Hakuryuu give in.

“But we’re going tomorrow. Early in the morning.”

Judar groaned.

“Don’t even think about arguing.”

Even though he pretended to be annoyed, Judar smiled into his pillow. That was more like it.

“In any case, do you need anything other than fruit?” Hakuryuu asked as he unlocked his phone. “I don’t want you to forget something important and then come back and whine about it, even though it was your fault you forgot in the first place.”

Apparently not much had changed in the years they didn’t know each other, because that was exactly how that’d happen without Hakuryuu’s intervention. Judar did it constantly when trying to buy himself groceries. “Conditioner. I used all yours.”

Hakuryuu frowned. “I just bought more…”

“I have a lot of hair.”

Hakuryuu sighed but typed something in his phone. Probably added it to his list. He was the kind of person who really kept a list. Judar wasn’t. He wasn’t even sure that those people actually existed until this moment.

Hakuryuu was so organized. Good at cooking, too. If a vampire had to notice him and get all paranoid and make him live in their house like some kind of pet, it was good that it was him. He was easy to live with. And that was without even getting into how he was trying to meet Judar in the middle with his fetish.

He’d grown up so well. It was hard not to feel proud. He sat up and pet Hakuryuu’s head, ignoring the strange look he got in return.


	4. Chapter 4

Oranges, check.

Persimmons, check.

Grapes, check.

Apples, check.

“Do you always eat this much fruit?” Hakuryuu asked as he watched their shopping basket quickly fill with various fruits, easily burying the three bottles of conditioner that would last Judar a couple weeks at best.

“Pretty much.”

Hakuryuu had a look on his face like he’d been proven right. “I can tell.”

“What!?”

“Nothing,” Hakuryuu said. His eyes followed an older, staring couple. So he was the type to stare back instead of back down. Judar liked that.

Judar got the hint that Hakuryuu couldn’t say whatever it was that he wanted to say in public, which meant that it was probably some joke about being a vampire. It was good that Hakuryuu was starting to joke about it. It was just a waste to not make a few vampire jokes, even if only as a consolation for being the world’s most prized game.

Hakuryuu finally finished the joke when they got back to his apartment. Not the second they got back, though. He had to move the stove back in front of the door first.

“Your blood is surprisingly clean for someone who hates vegetables,” Hakuryuu said. “Low triglycerides. Now I know why.”

Judar plucked a white grape from the bag they just bought and popped it into his mouth. It had a slight crunch to it. It was pretty good, but this time of year he always missed good peaches.

“At least wash them first,” Hakuryuu said.

Judar ignored Hakuryuu’s bitching and held the bag of grapes up. “Want some?”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes and took the whole bag instead of reaching inside and eating a couple grapes like Judar was doing. He took it over to the sink and washed them all off, then plated a few clusters and brought it back to the table.

Judar took a few more grapes. “I missed this,” he said through a mouthful. “Never make me go three days without fruit ever again.”

“Say that again and it’ll be a lot longer than three days.”

“Fucker. Do you want me to starve?” Judar asked. He popped a grape into Hakuryuu’s mouth. “See how good they are?”

Hakuryuu chewed it, swallowed, and shrugged. “It’s not really my thing.”

“What!? Get out of my house.”

“Judar, this is _my_ house.”

It was fun acting like idiots together. Sure, the only exit was barred and Judar couldn’t escape no matter how hard he tried, but y’know. Details, details. If he was having a good time every now and then, then that was fine. 

The morning had started slow… or maybe it was never morning at all. At least for Judar. He was asleep until past noon, then showered and had some leftovers.

Hakuryuu came home in the afternoon, then they fucked around for a little before Hakuryuu finally forced Judar to get dressed and come to the grocery store with him, a welcome outing, even though it was cold as hell outside. They got a bunch of shit for Judar and then headed on back with bags full of the things he would’ve bought himself if he had the money for every fruit in existence.

That was about where they were now.

“Anyway, do you always wait until dusk to go to the store? You guys burn in the sun, right?”

“We do,” Hakuryuu answered.

“But I remember you going outside during the day,” Judar said.

“On cloudy days with sunscreen on,” Hakuryuu said. “Your hunter friend was exactly right, I’m afraid. We don’t agree with the sun, but we have to deal with it every now and then or our cover will be blown instantly.”

“Oh. Guess that makes it hard for you, huh?”

Hakuryuu nodded. “The more people know about us, the worse it gets. I wish hunting wasn’t the new acting. Everyone wants to be rich and famous, it seems…”

“Sucks to suck,” Judar said. The pun went over Hakuryuu’s head, and he just scowled.

“They’re really making vampires extinct,” Hakuryuu said.

“You’re smart, though. You’ll make it.”

“I don’t want to hear that from _you_ ,” Hakuryuu said. “You were reporting news to your hunter friends whenever you got the chance.”

“You’re still mad about that? C’mon, lighten up a little. It was only one, and he’s not even in Kou. He’s in Sindria. Also, he’s not my friend.”

“Then why are you talking to him?”

“I’m not _now._ You kinda stole my phone?”

“It’s dangerous for me to let you keep it now. I might have let you keep it if you hadn’t spent so much time and energy on flirting with a hunter…”

“I’m gonna be able to use it when I leave, you know.”

“Of course I know that,” Hakuryuu said. “I just need time. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh.”

Their conversation wasn’t all that productive, and Judar didn’t want to invite a serious fight in, especially when they had all of this lovely fruit in front of them.

“…Anyway, you wanna eat with me?” Judar asked.

“The grapes?”

“You can eat from my neck if you don’t like the grapes.” 

“You were anemic _before_ I drank from you. I can’t just keep doing it.”

“You can do whatever you want,” Judar said.

“No, I really can’t. We’ve had this conversation before.”

“We had half of it, but not the other half.”

“…What do you mean?” 

“Whenever you want me, wherever you want me, however you want me,” Judar said as he popped another grape into his mouth. “It doesn’t matter if it hurts. If you want it, I want it.”

“Oh… _oh._ ”

So that’s what it took to make it click, huh?

Judar’s inhibitions fell with the sun. Hakuryuu was finally starting to understand how this was going to work, wasn’t he? He still looked a little unsure, though. He’d need some more experience before he felt confident enough to go straight for the prize unprompted.

After eating an extremely nutritious dinner of grapes and clementines, Judar lay back onto the floor. “So now that the shopping’s done and I’ve eaten…”

“Don’t tell me you want sex again.”

“I didn’t tell you anything. But if you’re gonna bring it up, I’m not gonna turn you down.”

Hakuryuu scrunched his nose up, but he wasn’t one to turn the offer down, either. That’s just the way it was. Exploring someone else’s body was the best part. Learning about the parts of them that the rest of the world couldn’t see was exciting. Seeing the things they were good at and the things they sucked at was a special kind of bonding.

Not that he was trying to form bonds here or anything. He just wanted to get laid. Again. The current state of the world wasn’t exactly conducive to this kind of thing, so who could blame him for taking advantage of being kept captive in a sexy vampire’s home?

“Hakuryuuuuu. It’s hot. You’re gonna have to take my shirt off.”

“It’s winter.”

“Then you’re gonna have to get over here and warm me up.”

“At least decide on which direction to take your pick-up lines before saying them.”

Judar laughed. “But did it work?”

“…Fine. But this will be the last time today,” Hakuryuu said, as if he was somehow the morally superior one for pretending like he didn’t want it even though he obviously did, because why else would he be pulling Judar up and pressing his back to the table?

Wait. Was that really a good idea? The table was hard. It was a backache waiting to happen. But Hakuryuu didn’t give him time to argue his way out of it. He forced Judar’s pants off and roughly grabbed him, just like Judar liked.

“Mmh!”

God, his back was going to murder him. At the same time, it was nice seeing his hard work pay off. Would Hakuryuu have done this unprompted two days ago? Absolutely not. (Yes, this was unprompted, shut up, it counts).

Hakuryuu wasn’t about to take his time with this. He was still a little annoyed, and he didn’t bother to hide it. He only stripped enough to fuck Judar effectively.

Unsurprisingly, they got some more lube at the store—the shit they were using before was Hakuryuu’s personal supply, and it was _not_ enough to last more than a couple days against Judar’s sex drive—and the new stuff being right there on the table, still in its packaging, was pretty convenient. Except for it being in its packaging. But what else were they gonna use Hakuryuu’s super strength for?

The thought was kinda funny. It was hard not to laugh.

“…What are you laughing about?”

“This is what we’re using your super strength for.”

“Am I only allowed to use it to kill?” Hakuryuu asked, annoyed. “You humans make packaging that takes you ten minutes to open. Do I have to waste ten minutes to do the same?”

“Uh… guess not.” Apparently Hakuryuu was just as sensitive as he always was. It was charming, but also kind of… uh, what was the word? Embarrassing? Yeah. It was cute, though.

Anyway, it was probably a good thing that Hakuryuu hated being laughed at. Otherwise Judar might’ve ruined the mood. But Hakuryuu got aggressive when he was annoyed, and aggression was such a turn on that it didn’t even matter if the mood wavered for a minute. He was far rougher far easier than a human could be. 

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Hakuryuu’s confidence was getting better by the day. Seriously, who would’ve thought it’d go this fast?”

“Ah! Mmh, Hakuryuu!”

“Sh-shut up, the neighbors will hear…”

Just to be a bitch, Judar moaned louder. Hakuryuu dug his nails into his hips.

“O-oh!”

When Judar finished, the first thought in his mind was that his back really fucking hurt and would continue to hurt. Wounds from sex were supposed to be sexy, but did back pain count? He’d have to think about that one.

“…I should get something to eat,” Hakuryuu said as he pulled out. 

“We have food,” Judar said. He plucked another grape off. “Want some more?”

“I’ll pass,” Hakuryuu said. “I’ll get something to eat later.”

“What’re you gonna eat? Actually, scratch that. Did you eat humans back when we were kids, too? Like a cannibal?”

Hakuryuu sighed. “You know that’s not what I did.”

“You never know.”

“Still… You’re always only asking about me,” Hakuryuu said. “What about you? What have _you_ been doing the past fifteen years?”

Judar once heard that everyone liked to talk about themself, but he really didn’t. He’d rather talk about Hakuryuu. “You read my texts. Don’t you already know that?”

“…Your phone lags when I try to read too far back. Besides, I wanted to hear it from you.”

“What else is there to tell you?” Judar asked.

“Everything other than that you like older men. I got that part from your texts.”

Wow… awkward. “I like you better,” Judar said. “I just didn’t know you then.”

“What happened to your new foster parents, after you moved?” Hakuryuu asked.

“I didn’t have any. I lived in a group home.”

“Oh. So that’s why you asked Gyokuen to take you in. I thought you were still trying to steal my siblings.”

“Th-that never happened!” 

Hakuryuu smiled. “I’m sure.”

It was… nice.

Judar was thinking that a lot recently. That he was really, really happy to know Hakuryuu again. 

It’d been a long time since he’d wanted to spend time with someone outside of getting what he wanted: to be yanked around, told what to do, and stepped on.

That didn’t sound good, when he thought about it. It was embarrassing that Hakuryuu read his texts, because he was pretty sure it showed there best.

Hakuryuu wasn’t taking pity on him, though. He was genuinely just curious. Judar liked that about him.

“What did you do all that time?” Judar asked.

“You already asked that.”

“Yeah, but you gave me the without vampires version. I want to hear the bloody version now.”

“The truth is pretty much the same. It just involves more sunscreen and less going outside during the day. I normally take my classes as late in the day as I can, but my friends at school were starting to catch on… so I’m taking them in the morning now.”

“How much blood do you have to drink?”

“…If you tell anything I say about this to that hunter, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“I won’t, I won’t.”

“I don’t have to drink from humans daily. Goose blood works. Pigs’ blood is better. I need human blood at least a few times a week, though. Otherwise I’ll get sick.”

“Isn’t it suspicious going out and buying blood?”

“Yes. It’s more convenient to buy live animals.”

Imagining Hakuryuu coming home with a live duck to suck dry was a funny thought. Feathers had to be a bitch to clean.

“Need any today?” Judar asked.

“…I should get real food.”

“Like, as in human blood?”

“Yes,” Hakuryuu said.

“Better take a shower first. Unless you want whoever you kill to know you were were fucking me into a table just before leaving?”

“I was planning on it. The shower, I mean.”

Judar laughed. “Hey, you said you guys can smell if someone was bit, right?”

“Yes, when the bite is recent.”

“Can you smell when a vampire’s been fucking a human, too?”

Hakuryuu flushed. “Th-that’s not really…”

“Can you?”

“…Yes. Our sense of smell is strong, and it’s abnormal to smell our species so close nowadays. It stands out quite a lot. But I have smelled it before. Many vampires keep humans, both now and in the past.”

“For sex?”

“For _blood,_ Judar. Like humans keep pigs.”

“Oh. Right.” Fair enough. “Hey, I want a shower too.”

“Your hair is still damp. You already bathed this morning, right?”

“Yeah, but we’ve fucked like four times since then,” Judar said.

“I-it was only twice!” Hakuryuu insisted.

“Also, I want to go with you.”

“Why? I’m just going out to eat.”

Why wouldn’t he want to go? “It sounds fun. Watching you kill someone and leave their cold body in the alley somewhere. I could help you hide the evidence.”

“I don’t leave any evidence, Judar. If I did, I’d be dead.”

“……”

That was the life vampires led, wasn’t it? Hakuryuu was one of the stronger ones. That was why he was still alive. But even the strong got caught sometimes. It was on the news day after day. Somewhere a vampire was having their guts torn out on national television. All they had to do was change the channel to see it.

“…Still, though,” Judar mumbled as he stood and stretched. “We could be partners in crime.” 

“Fine. You win,” Hakuryuu said. He released Judar’s arms. They’d definitely bruise. “Play your cards right and you can go outside.”

“What am I, your pet?”

“Aren’t you?” Hakuryuu said with a smile. “I feed you, keep you, and you do whatever I tell you.” He dug his fingers into Judar’s sides.

“…Ugh! That hurts!” 

“And yet your body tells me that it enjoyed it,” Hakuryuu said, breathing the smell at the back of Judar’s neck in. He raked his nails along Judar’s side again as he spoke. “Have you always been like this?”

“P, pretty much.”

“Interesting. So nothing in particular started it.”

“What about you? You’re pretty into this for someone who says he’s just doing it ‘cause I asked.”

“Maybe I am,” Hakuryuu said. “But I never would have thought of it myself.”

“How do you go this long not knowing you get off on keeping someone on a leash?” Judar grumbled.

“You don’t have a leash. Only a collar. And you bought that yourself.” Hakuryuu slid a finger under Judar’s collar and pulled up until Judar held his breath before letting it go. It hit his neck with a sound.

“It’s a choker, not a collar,” Judar said. “If you want me to wear a collar, you’re buying it.”

“You’d really wear one?” Hakuryuu asked, amused. “Wouldn’t people know?”

“That’s kind of the point.” Not that Hakuryuu was letting him go outside for long enough for people to see it.

“You have strange hobbies.”

“So do you.”

Hakuryuu pulled the stove back in front of the door before he left.

Judar whistled as he watched Hakuryuu move the stove like it was an empty box. Hakuryuu’s muscles were something else.

Hakuryuu turned a little red at the attention. It was cute. The contrast between his embarrassment at trying to be different from who he used to be and the small remainder of the person he used to be made something charming when slammed together.

Unfortunately, things were boring without Hakuryuu. There wasn’t anything to do inside of that apartment but bathe, so he took another shower. He didn’t bother washing his hair. He mostly just closed his eyes and let the warm water wash over his satisfied body, up until the instant the water stopped being warm.

Then he wandered around a little. Found an old gameboy in the back of Hakuryuu’s closet. It was dead, but he found the charger shortly after and plugged it in so he could at least use it tomorrow.

After that, the only thing left to do was wait.

“……” 

Watching seconds tick by was the worst. Judar had no idea how much he relied on his phone for idle entertainment until now.

It took forever for Hakuryuu to return. Judar jumped up from his place at the table where he’d be aimlessly staring at the clock. Finally. Finally he was saved from the terrible boredom of living inside a house with a guy whose only hobby was cooking!

“How was it?” Judar asked.

Hakuryuu licked his lips. “I’ve had better.”

Whoa.

“…We don’t need to make it three times,” Hakuryuu said after seeing Judar’s expression change from vague annoyance at it taking Hakuryuu so long to come home to lust.

“Why not?” Judar asked. It’s not like he had much else to pass the time than begging to be fucked. This was his life now! He made his bed so he was gonna get comfortable and take it up the ass. Was that a crime? “A little soreness never killed anyone.”

“I-in any case,” Hakuryuu said to change the subject in the smoothest way possible. “I got you a present.”

“Huh? Seriously?”

Hakuryuu tossed him a black plastic bag. Didn’t bother to wrap it, then, did he?

Oh well. All good things came in so-called ‘discreet’ black bags. Judar emptied its contents on the floor.

A collar. A real fucking collar.

“Wow. You really bought one,” Judar said. He picked it up and turned it around in his hands. “Is this real leather?”

“I wanted to see if you’d really wear it,” Hakuryuu said, a little defensive. “And I’m sure you’d complain if I got a cheap one.”

“Still made of money, aren’t you?” Judar teased. He felt around for the latch of his choker. Out with the old and in with the new.

“It’s only a collar. They aren’t exactly luxury goods. All dogs have them.”

“Dogs are luxury goods,” Judar said.

“Sorry, did I offend you?” Hakuryuu sat down next to him and picked the collar Judar left on the floor up. “It has a lock, but you’re already used to wearing things like this, so I doubt it’ll bother you.”

“You’re gonna lock it?”

“Of course.”

Wow. Less than a month in and he was already getting collared up. Adult Hakuryuu was fucking great.

Hakuryuu wrapped the collar around Judar’s neck and fastened the loop. It really was like a dog collar in every way.

Until he started messing with the key.

“Hopefully you’ll be more well-behaved like this,” Hakuryuu said once the key clicked the lock shut. He gave it a cursory tug to make sure it was truly locked, then nodded his satisfaction. “It suits you. The weekend is only a couple days away. I’ll take you out a little further than the grocery store if you’re good until then.”

“Seriously?”

“ _If_ you’re good, and I do mean _if._.”

So all he had to do was be good, huh?

What the hell did that mean, anyway? From Hakuryuu’s amused expression, he expected Judar to not get it.

“Anyway, your first test is simple,” Hakuryuu said. “You have to let me study in silence.”

“Huh? Study?”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. “You might have forgotten this, but I _am_ a student, and I do have exams coming up. I need to study if I want to do well.”

“……”

“You really forgot, didn’t you.”

“N-no! Besides, fucking is way more fun than studying.”

“That doesn’t mean I should neglect everything else to focus on my sex life.”

“Why not?”

“Are you really asking me that…? I can think of all sorts of reasons.”

“And I can think of tons of reasons why we should spend all day fucking around.”

Judar’s instinctual answer to Hakuryuu sitting down with his textbooks lined up on the table was to be a brat and lose his page. He was pretty sure that wasn’t being ‘good,’ though.

What did that even mean? Was he supposed to act like Hakuryuu’s boyfriend, or was he supposed to leave him alone? It was a lost cause if Hakuryuu wanted him to clean house or something. He could wear a maid outfit, or any other kind of stupid outfit as long as it got him out of doing something, but actual cleaning? Disgusting. He’d rather die.

Judar might not have much going for him, but he _did_ have priorities. Going outside wasn’t all that important when he compared it to the deep annoyance that cleaning Hakuryuu’s house would give him. Sure, maybe he’d rot in here like it was a prison (or, more accurately, a well-furnished but somewhat drafty sex dungeon), but that probably wouldn’t happen even if he was a major brat.

Judar sighed. Being trapped in a handsome vampire’s sex dungeon sure was rough.

He knew damn well that he was being dramatic and that Hakuryuu telling him to be good so he could study for a couple hours was probably the ideal outcome of being locked in a house with a member of a species that was humanity’s only predator. However! It was boring. Hakuryuu didn’t give him anything to do, so it was infuriatingly dull at best.

“……”

But wait.

Didn’t he find an old gameboy earlier? 

Judar sat up from where he was laying on the floor with renewed energy. How could he have forgotten? He didn’t have to stare at the wall earlier. He was just an idiot. He did have entertainment! The best entertainment that 2001 had to offer! Nevermind that 2001 was embarrassingly long ago. He didn’t need to be reminded about the passage of time. He was trying to have a good time playing video games.

There was one game inside the gameboy, but three more that were hidden in the depths of Hakuryuu’s closet. Apparently Hakuryuu didn’t think he had anything to hide because he didn’t come out to scold Judar for rummaging through his things. Little did he know that he did have something to hide: prime entertainment for five year olds back in the day.

Well, to be more specific, it was a gameboy advance. Not a gameboy. That would be ridiculous. They weren’t skeletons just yet.

The game Hakuryuu had last played (probably back when he was like six, but what did that matter) was a Megaman game. Judar was vaguely familiar with them, but they had way too many puzzles, something that was far more annoying in the days before they could just look up all the answers online. They had to get the guidebooks back then, and trying to convince parents to let them have an expensive guidebook on top of an expensive game was pretty much always a losing battle.

…Maybe they were skeletons. But still!

Unsurprisingly, Hakuryuu was the guy who filled his deck in Megaman for the gameboy advance with dark chips and then lost all the fights because he couldn’t do anything because he was too busy being edgy to consider strategy. Judar was the same kid back in the day.

It was kinda fun trying to beat it anyway, though. And it got him through the mind-numbing boredom of Hakuryuu ignoring him to study.

He couldn’t really remember Hakuryuu playing this game when they were kids, but that was probably because Judar sucked at it and didn’t want to talk about it.

It was about eleven at night when Judar heard a sigh from the kitchen and the sound of a book closing. All in all, it was about three hours of studying. Or, in Judar’s world, about three hours of trying to figure out puzzles and losing to random encounters. He made absolutely no progress to the point where turning the damn game off was a relief instead of a shame.

“All done?” Judar asked when Hakuryuu walked into his bedroom.

“…What are you doing? Have you been playing that thing for the past three hours?”

“Yup,” Judar said as he powered it down. “Not like I have anything else to do. I mean, if I’m trying to be ‘good.’”

“Maybe,” Hakuryuu said. He was definitely judging Judar for his life choices, though. As if he hadn’t spent hours playing video games back in the day, too.

“Gonna sleep now?”

“Yeah,” Hakuryuu said. “You are too, right?”

“Might as well.”

That should’ve been the end of it. They should’ve laid down and gone to sleep and then woken in the morning (or in the afternoon, what did it matter?) but that’s not how it went, for better or worse. 

Okay, so, the details.

Judar always tossed and turned a little. Like he said, he was a light sleeper. It didn’t help that he was in bed with another man, especially another man who was very pointedly not touching him. The other thing was that he was starting to feel a little shitty, almost like anemia was an actual medical issue that could make his head feel kinda weird.

He definitely tossed and turned, and his back was absolutely still sore, but he slept.

But! The sleep he worked so hard for was taken from him as fast as it came. Like he said before, Judar is a light sleeper. He loved sleep but it didn’t come to him like it was supposed to. The second anything happened, he was _up._

And something happened alright. Hakuryuu, who was supposed to have a good sleep schedule (probably), woke him up with a hand on his shoulder.

“Judar.”

“Mmmh.”

“Get up.”

“Uuughh.”

The hand on his shoulder dug its nails in.

“Ghk!” That got him up. “The hell was that for?”

“Blow me.”

Judar blinked a few times. His eyes were still filled with sleep, but even when he blinked, it didn’t really help. It was still dark, and he didn’t have the night vision that Hakuryuu apparently did have.

“Whenever I want, however I want,” Hakuryuu said. “That was the agreement. So get up.”

Judar groaned. Hakuryuu was mean. “Can’t you just fuck me?” 

“How is that any better?”

“‘Cause I can sleep while you do it…” 

“You’re so lazy. You asked me to do this, so at least _act_ like you want it.”

That was a pretty compelling argument. At least to Judar’s poor sleep-deprived brain. He sat up and groped around in the darkness until he found Hakuryuu’s leg, then moved his hand up to feel for Hakuryuu’s clothed cock.

He wasn’t even that hard. Like, he was a little hard. Just a little. But it’s not like he woke up from a wet dream and was super desperate. He was just being mean.

“Okay,” Judar mumbled. “I’ll do it.”

He moved to the side of the bed as Hakuryuu undressed his lower half.

Judar licked his lips to wet them, then got to work.

His eyes were starting to adjust in the darkness, but they weren’t very useful now that his only job was to pleasure the cock in his mouth, so he closed them again. Hakuryuu didn’t really know what to do with his hands. He could tell by the way he kept moving them - from the covers to hovering over Judar’s head, his neck, his shoulder, back to the covers so he could grip them.

He was trying not to buck up into Judar’s mouth. He didn’t have to do that, but he probably wasn’t confident enough to try to choke Judar out yet, whether on his neck or with his cock in his mouth. Well, whatever. They’d get there sooner or later.

Sooner, at the rate this was going. Judar pushed deeper. If Hakuryuu wouldn’t choke him, he’d choke himself. He moaned when the cock in his throat pushed past the back of his tongue.

“Mmh, mm—”

It didn’t take long for Hakuryuu to cum against the back of his throat. Judar pulled back a little so he could taste it, then swallowed it eagerly. 

It didn’t taste like fucking garlic, so that was a plus. That probably sounded like an absolutely absurd thing to comment on, but the last few guys he blew all tasted disgusting. It was honestly really refreshing having a new flavor after all that. It was like… kind of weird, in an uncanny valley sort of way, since it definitely wasn’t human cum. But whatever. It was good. As good as cum could be, anyway.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” Judar mumbled.

“If you have to.”

Judar nodded. He pulled Hakuryuu’s pants back up. “Wake me up if you need more.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. I’ll do what I want to do with you either way.”

…Okay, yeah, Judar was really over being woken up. It was _super_ hot being talked to like that. Hakuryuu could wake him up as many times as he needed if he was going to be like that every time.

Unfortunately, Judar knew that he wouldn’t be. He’d probably crack if he did it again, asking if this was actually what Judar wanted and if he was doing it right, If Judar insulted him enough he might even shed a couple tears of frustration.

Not that Judar would do that or anything. He was trying to raise a dom here, not a masochist.

If that was where the night ended, that would’ve been fine. But it wasn’t, not really. Hakuryuu was emboldened by the success of his first attempt and woke Judar again in the form of grinding against him.

“Want me to get you off again?” Judar mumbled.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Sure enough, he felt Hakuryuu cum against his thighs after a few minutes.

It was kind of funny, now that he was thinking about it. If you asked Judar what he was planning to do at the beginning of this month, he definitely would not have said that he was going to become a vampire’s live-in sex toy. Funny how life played out sometimes! 

The bad part about being here was that he was trapped. The good part was that Hakuryuu made all his meals for him and they fucked sometimes.

He wasn’t saying the good outweighed the bad. But he probably wouldn’t leave even if he could. Not while Hakuryuu was home, at least.


	5. Chapter 5

When Judar woke he was still sore. And his back still hurt like hell.

He groaned into his pillow. He didn’t want to be awake. He wanted to be asleep where he wasn’t sore and his back didn’t want to murder him, so he went back to sleep. It just wasn’t worth it! Being awake sucked, so he was going to hibernate now. When he next woke up, he better be the most comfortable he’d ever been in his entire life.

…Needless to say, that didn’t happen.

He didn’t fall asleep as easily as planned, for one. Pain was hard to overcome when it was the pain of making a stupid life choice like breaking his back for a quick lay. Like, how hard would it have been to just go to the bed? It would have been the easiest thing ever, but he didn’t do it. That would be the last time he ever thought with his dick instead of his head.

He grimaced and sighed, but he did eventually fall asleep again, but it didn’t last long, and when he got up again he was still sore as hell. He wasn’t surprised, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoyed about it.

Friday was a little different from the past few days. Hakuryuu only had one class, and it was in the afternoon, so Judar could monopolize his time for a few hours before then. It would’ve been a few more hours if he’d woken up earlier, but his sleep schedule was a bitch so that wasn’t what happened.

Instead, by the time he was up enough to stroll out to the living room while yawning, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders to protect him from the lackluster heating in the living room. Hakuryuu was eating lunch at the table.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a vampire?” Judar mumbled, pointing to the plate of dumplings Hakuryuu was eating as he studied. They were the same dumplings they’d made in bulk the other day, judging by the few lopsided ones, courtesy of Judar’s excellent craftsmanship.

“I like human food,” Hakuryuu said. As if to prove it, he pushed another dumpling into his mouth and chewed. Then swallowed.

Come to think of it, Hakuryuu did put a lot of effort into cooking. That’d be pretty weird if he could only stand to eat a grape a day. But he _was_ a vampire, so it was still weird. If vampires could live off of human food alone, they wouldn’t be living lives in fear of persecution, now would they?

Judar watched as Hakuryuu nodded at the flavor of his own cooking. Hakuryuu wasn’t pulling a face or anything. For all intents and purposes, he really did seem to like human food.

“So you can eat it?” Judar asked. “Even though you’re a vampire? Is the blood just a treat or something?”

Hakuryuu swallowed and wiped his face. “No, Judar. If it were a treat, we wouldn’t be drinking it at the cost of our lives.”

“So can you eat human food or not?”

“No. Not really.”

“Huh. Then why’re you eating it now? Like, what happens to it if you can’t eat it?”

Hakuryuu looked away. “I throw it up afterwards… if I didn’t, I’d just get sick.” 

“Wow. That’s gross.”

Hakuryuu reddened. “You’re the one who asked,” he said and downed half a glass of water before taking another dumpling. Now that Judar was a little more awake, he noticed that Hakuryuu didn’t just have the dumplings. He also had an empty plate with radioactive blue… something or other on it. Frosting? It was just a little now. Hakuryuu must’ve eaten it earlier.

“You’re really just gonna throw it all up?”

Hakuryuu nodded, embarrassed.

“Didn’t expect this kind of thing from you. Isn’t that kind of a waste?” Judar asked, trying to mimic how Hakuryuu chided him for wasting food a week ago. “Those dumplings worked hard to exist. I mean, I worked hard. You see that one on the left? I made that. You’re just gonna throw it up?”

“Shut up, Judar. I don’t want to hear anything about waste from you, considering you pull the vegetables out of everything and pitch them. Unlike you, I enjoy cooking. Besides, I get tired of just drinking blood all the time, as delicious as it can be. There are many more human foods than blood types, as I’m sure you know.”

“Geez. No need to get so defensive.” Judar sat down on the other side of the table. “Give me some, too.”

Hakuryuu was right. They weren’t half bad. He was also right about Judar breaking them apart to pick the cabbage out, though. It just wasn’t right. It really wasn’t right that Hakuryuu stuffed cabbage into the dumplings they worked so hard on. Why ruin them like that? That was why Judar hated cooking. They spent forever making them and he still had to pick shit out of them before eating.

When they finished the dumplings, Hakuryuu excused himself, apparently to throw it all back up.

Not being able to eat peaches without getting sick was pretty hard, sure. But Judar wouldn’t go through that for some dumplings.

…Wait. Was Hakuryuu gonna make him do the dishes while he was in the bathroom? Judar groaned. Forget everything he ever said about how being a live-in sex toy sounded like a great job. He didn’t want to do the dishes. He really, really didn’t want to do the dishes!

Sadly, his pleas went unheard. Hakuryuu made him help with the dishes when he came back.

“By the way, a classmate is coming over,” Hakuryuu said as he scrubbed radioactive blue off of a plate. “We have a project to work on for a gen-ed class. You’ll be good, won’t you?”

“Uh… I mean, I won’t tell him you’re a vampire.”

“And?”

Nothing came to mind. “And what?”

“And you’ll be good.”

Judar didn’t really know what that entailed, but it couldn’t be too hard. So he shrugged and nodded.

Hakuryuu picked out some clothes for Judar to wear when Alibaba came over - a button-down and a sweater, some slacks.

“These clothes suck,” Judar said.

Hakuryuu ignored him. “Make sure you button the shirt all the way up. Otherwise the bandage on the bottom of your neck will be obvious.”

“Fine, Judar grumbled and buttoned up. He felt like an absolute nerd. Hakuryuu went out like this? Man, he really went out like this. Second-hand embarrassment was bubbling up inside of him. He really needed to get Hakuryuu a new wardrobe. Something waaay sexier than this.

Hakuryuu went to class after he made sure that Judar was dressed to his satisfaction.

“Remember. The next time I come back, I’ll have my classmate with me. Do _not_ try to escape. If you do, I’ll kill you.”

Judar nodded. He watched himself nod in the mirror with his stupid button-up shirt.

Forget second-hand embarrassment. This was real life first-hand embarrassment.

Hakuryuu didn’t put the stove back in front of the door, but that was only because he didn’t want his classmate thinking he was an absolute freak who kept sluts locked up in his apartment as a hobby, even though that was basically what he was at this point.

It was only a couple hours before they were there. Judar was sitting at the table playing one of the 2D Sonic games, the one with Cream and the tiny chao garden, when the door opened and he heard someone’s voice. Someone other than Hakuryuu’s voice. It felt kind of weird after Hakuryuu being his only contact with the world for the past few days. It was like, wow, people still existed? They were still a thing?

“So I’m gonna do the poster and you’ll do the research, right?”

“Yes. I think that would be best for the both of us,” Hakuryuu said.

Hakuryuu’s friend balked when he saw Judar picking at tea snacks at Hakuryuu’s table, a gameboy in hand. Gameboy advance. He was still young. Really!

From the look of it, Hakuryuu didn’t prepare his friend or whatever for this.

“Wh-wh-who’s that?” He whispered frantically to Hakuryuu. “A friend?”

“A roommate, for the time being. His apartment is undergoing some renovations, so he’s staying here for the week.” Hakuryuu lied easily enough in words, but his nervousness showed in the way his fingers tapped incessantly against his pants.

Good thing what’s-his-face was too busy staring at Judar to notice.

“Oh!” He said, a little too loudly. “Right! I’m Alibaba. You?”

“He’s Judar,” Hakuryuu said before Judar got the chance to introduce himself. “Please don’t mind him too much.”

Was he supposed to talk, or wasn’t he? It was kind of hard to tell. If Hakuryuu wanted him to do a good job, he should’ve explained what a ‘good job’ was before. Now Judar could pretend like he had absolutely no idea what being ‘good’ meant and be a brat instead.

So he hummed along to the music coming from the gameboy as Hakuryuu and what’s-his-face tried to work on their project.

“Could you stop doing that?” Hakuryuu asked.

Yeah, whatever. What was the ‘good’ version of that? “Okay,” Judar tried. “Sure.” He made no move to stop.

After exactly fourteen seconds, not that he was counting, Hakuryuu sighed sharply.

“Judar, _stop_.” 

He stopped.

Hakuryuu really knew what he was doing with that tone, didn’t he?

The face he made when he told Judar what to do was hard to look away from, even when he directed it back at his homework after only a moment.

Alibaba watched the exchange with bulging eyes.

He thought _that_ was bad? Judar would show him bad.

Judar got up, put the gameboy away, then wandered around the kitchen, opening this cabinet and that until he found what he was looking for: the kettle. He plugged it in, then remembered to put water in. Scooped some loose-leaf tea into metal bags and closed the latch. Got two cups out.

He never did this stuff, but he was super excited about it now. It was definitely being ‘good!’ Probably. Making tea for guests was like basic consideration, but Hakuryuu didn’t do it. He was probably expecting Judar to do it then. Right? Right.

He finished, put the tea on a tray, then delivered it to Hakuryuu and his friend. Put a cup in front of both of them. They had three cups. He just didn’t get one out for himself.

“You didn’t use enough tea,” Hakuryuu said as soon as he poured himself pale tea. “Good effort, though.”

“I like it better like this. It’s way too bitter when you make it.”

“Why don’t you have some, then?” Alibaba asked cautiously.

“I don’t want any. I hate tea.”

“O, oh. Well, thanks for making it.”

Judar wasn’t interested in hearing that from him. He only cared about what Hakuryuu had to say about it.

“Put more tea leaves in next time,” he said. “But it was a good start.”

“Wow, a rare Hakuryuu compliment. I should’ve recorded it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hakuryuu said.

Judar laughed. “Yessir.”

The lead in Alibaba’s mechanical pencil snapped.

Yess. Snap harder. “What else do you need me to do?” Judar asked.

“Just stay out of the way,” Hakuryuu said, dismissive as ever.

“Are you sure? I can get you guys some snacks… or help out in other ways, if you need it.”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. He knew damn well what Judar was trying to do, but there wasn’t much he could do about it, was there? Not in front of _guests._ “Just go back to bed.”

“Aww, okay,” Judar said and stood up. Stretched. Locked eyes with Alonebaba. Smirked like the true brat he was.

It was sort of like a power struggle but between bottoms instead of people with any real power. Judar could sense his own type. This was someone who probably didn’t give a shit about getting Hakuryuu in bed, but was still extremely aware of the fact that Hakuryuu could dom him if he wanted to, and Judar had to take advantage of that. It was too funny not to.

Alibaba was, predictably, the first one to back down. “So… nice collar,” he mumbled as he stared at the table, face red. 

“Uh, thanks?” Judar said, as if he wasn’t fishing for that exact response.

“Do you, um, always wear one?”

“It’s new. It was a present.”

“Oh… alright.”

Okay, that was enough testing his luck for one day. If he didn’t stop now, Hakuryuu would probably kick him out. Forget not being murdered by an angry mob. There were times when Hakuryuu’s pride and incessant need to get back at others meant a little more to him than his own life.

So he stood up, stretched in a kind of obnoxious way to make his shirt ride up over his hip bones, then took his (Hakuryuu’s) gameboy and left.

He really wanted to be a brat for a bit longer, but even Judar knew when to stop one or two days of the year. He flipped cards in virtual concentration and tried to save up for a metallic egg for his tiny chao.

“…This kinda sucks,” he mumbled. His urge to be bad for another day of the year quickly became uncontrollable.

Why did he have to be good? Hakuryuu didn’t _actually_ need a degree in whatever the hell he was studying. He didn’t have to make any money at all. All he had to do was murder and flash his muscles and he’d get whatever he wanted.

Yeah, sure, guns might be a problem in the modern world, but details like that didn’t really matter.

Live hard, die young. That was a valid school of thought, wasn’t it?

Sitting in Hakuryuu’s bedroom playing a boring game from the early 2000s was hardly living hard. He knew that doms were supposed to make him do things that he didn’t want to do, but it wasn’t supposed to be boring, right? Like, who wanted their dom to make them do dishes? That shit sucked. And not in the sexy vampire way.

Anyway, he was bored to the point that he was considering fake crying for attention. Then he heard Hakuryuu’s annoying friend stand and say that he was heading home for the day.

Judar jumped up, saved from his eternal boredom. He remembered to unbutton the top two buttons on his shirt, then left the room and ignored Hakuryuu’s nasty glare. “You’re gonna leave already?”

“A-ah, yeah. It’s not like I can stay here all night.”

“Yeah, probably not. I mean, we only have one bedroom.”

Alibaba grimaced. “Y-yeah… right, uh… I’ll be going now!”

The second the door shut, Judar turned to Hakuryuu. “He definitely knows we’re fucking.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Wow, what a tone. Wanna take your frustrations out on me?”

Hakuryuu sighed, exasperated. “How do you expect me to pin you to a wall to punish you when you ask me to do it every three minutes? That’s hardly punishment. If anything, it’d reward you for being a brat.”

“Maybe I deserve it?”

“No. No, you really don’t.”

“Then what _do_ I deserve?” Judar asked.

“To clean all of the windows and counters.”

Judar groaned. “Can’t you at least buy me a maid outfit if you’re gonna punish me with cleaning?”

“Wouldn’t that just reward you?”

“Ggh…”

Judar was starting to realize why nobody ever acted like a horny brat for their dom. If they pretended like they hated it, they probably got it a lot more than he did. Maybe he’d be better off changing his approach?

Okay, then. Take two. “N-no… I don’t wanna get pinned by you, my scary vampire overlord…! Let me escape and get back to my shitty job right now!”

Hakuryuu just stared for a moment.

Judar stared back.

“…That was pretty pathetic.”

Judar’s face heated up. “Sh-shut up! Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Why are you so desperate in the first place? It hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours.”

“Yeah, but if I’m stuck here, the least you can do is fuck me like I’m your sex slave or some shit.”

Hakuryuu sighed. “You’re right that it’s not the best way to do this, but… Frankly, I don’t think there’s any other option.”

“Uh, you could give me my phone back? At least then I won’t be so damn bored all the time.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Then fuck me instead.”

That probably shouldn’t have worked, but it did, so Judar wasn’t about to complain.

…Actually, that wasn’t true. Hakuryuu wrapped his arms around him and pressed his face to Judar’s shoulder and took a deep breath, then spoke, lips against Judar’s skin. “The smell is much better for me like this.”

“With the collar?”

“Yes. It covers your carotids, and that’s where humans smell most strongly of blood.”

“Too bad. It’s kinda hot when your fangs come out.”

Hakuryuu pressed his teeth flat against Judar’s shoulder blade. His fangs extended in seconds, and he quickly removed them. “It still happens.”

“If you didn’t steal my phone, I’d let you bite me again.”

“I don’t want to bite you again. You’re too troublesome. It’s not worth it, and you taste no better than anyone else with our blood type.”

“We have the same blood type?”

“Yes. Well, for the most part. You’re Rh-negative and I’m positive.”

“Never heard of that.”

“It’s not important,” Hakuryuu said. His lisp was improving as the conversation distracted him from the warm body before him.

“Do I taste good?”

Hakuryuu breathed deeply against his shoulder. “Very.”

There went his fangs again.

“No one would notice if you bit me there.”

“Humans wouldn’t. Vampires would. We can smell it.”

“Is that why you still won’t let me outside?”

“It’s fine if we go together. Just not if you go alone. It draws attention to you, and I don’t like that.”

“I can take care of myself, you know.”

“You can, but will you? I don’t want anyone else touching you. Do you understand?”

Wow. Judar could feel his insides grow hot. “Touch me enough and I won’t need anyone else.”

“You are so greedy,” Hakuryuu said. He moved a hand down to stroke at Judar through his pants slowly, almost lazily. “It’s a miracle that anyone’s obliged you.”

“And yet you’re doing it now,” Judar said. Hakuryuu pressed down in response, a little too aggressive for such a sensitive place.

Judar gasped.

Yeah. Yeah! That was the exact kind of punishment that a dom was supposed to give him. Forget that cleaning shit. He wanted his body ruined, not his will to live.

But wait.

Wait.

“H-Hakuryuu,” he said and grasped Hakuryuu’s shirt in his hands to push him away just so.

“What?”

“Don’t fuck me here.”

Hakuryuu raised an eyebrow. “What? After all that begging…”

“No! No, that’s not what I mean. I still want you to fuck me real good. It’s just, uh…”

Hakuryuu waited for him to finish, impatient but too curious to interrupt.

“My back hurts like hell from last time.”

Hakuryuu laughed. “Your back? You’re getting old.”

“Am not!!”

Unfortunately, Hakuryuu took all of Judar’s complaining to heart. If he wanted pain in bed, Hakuryuu would give him pain in bed, whether it came in the form of nails digging into his sides hard enough to draw blood or fucking him standing despite his already sore back.

Judar couldn’t tell if he was groaning or moaning even as the sounds left his mouth. It felt good. It did! It just also hurt like hell.

It was honestly kind of a relief when Hakuryuu finished inside of him. Maybe that was what being a sub was _supposed_ to be about. If he wanted to lose control of a situation entirely, then what better way for Hakuryuu to do it but to fuck him somewhere he didn’t want to be fucked? 

“It’s a lot of fun,” Hakuryuu confessed as he pulled out.

“See, you were into it all along!”

“I didn’t even know it existed until you told me. This sub and dom stuff, I mean.”

“I always knew you were a fast learner,” Judar said with a smile. It was the kind of thing that every sub dreamed of, really. Who wouldn’t want to craft their own dom? Everybody loved making things to match their exact tastes. If they didn’t, dress-up games wouldn’t be nearly as popular as they were.

“Why do you say that?”

“‘Cause you’re good at picking stuff up. Like math and reading and breaking my spine and stuff.”

“Math and reading? That’s because you kept trying to get me to do your homework, even though you’re older. Anyone would learn quickly with you telling them to learn two years worth of math in a morning.”

“Hey, you liked doing that! ‘Cause you’re such a showoff.”

“A-anyway…” 

After they were done picking on each other to their hearts’ content, Judar left to go take a bath. It was the only thing he could think of to make his body hate him a little less.

He left the door open against his best judgement. If he didn’t, he’d be an absolute failure of a sub. He couldn’t be a baby about everything when Hakuryuu was finally getting the hint. That’d be flat out pathetic.

Thankfully, the dread of more back pain ended unfulfilled. Hakuryuu did come in, but all he did was leave some clothes for Judar to wear. He didn’t bother to get a good look at them until he drained the water from the tub and wrang some of the water from his hair, and by then, he was calm enough that he could appreciate Hakuryuu’s present properly.

“Whoa…”

If Judar thought his own crop top was skimpy, well! This one was about five times shorter. The pants were short enough that they showed more ass than what they covered, too. Hakuryuu must’ve bought them back when he got that collar from whatever sex store he came across while looking for a collar.

Judar put them on (with some difficulty, considering how much pain he was in), then stared at himself in the mirror.

…Yeah. He looked like a proper live-in sex toy now. Wow.

He knew logically that Hakuryuu was trying to make him feel better about being trapped inside all day instead of trying to force Judar to wear something shameful, but still, the outfit was there.

There was only one problem.

It was fucking _cold,_ especially with wet hair. His teeth were chattering long before he finished getting it all braided.

When his hair was braided and he was presentable enough to leave the bathroom, Hakuryuu looked up at him sheepishly from where he was sitting at his desk reading.

“Is that what you wanted?” He asked. “Earlier, I mean.”

“I’m gonna be so sore,” Judar said through a yawn. “As expected, you’re great at this.” He was sore in a bunch of places, not just his back, and the rest of the pain in his body was starting to make it all feel good.

“You really expected that?”

“You’re good at everything. Why would this be an exception?”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes, but his half-smile betrayed him. “Is this really okay?”

“Having second thoughts?”

“No, but… you’ve been great through all this. Dealt with all the stuff I’ve thrown at you, even if you never stop complaining about some of it. I don’t know anyone else who would have taken it as well as you’ve been. But I didn’t think you would either, honestly.”

“Have some faith in me,” Judar said. He could feel his body pulling him towards sleep, so he lay down and yawned a second time. His body was tired, and his mind was following quickly.

What would tomorrow bring? Who could say. It’d probably hurt, though, and he’d be thankful, since this was his life now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know, i know, it's late. but i got distracted writing an angst fic and you know me. i love angst more than i love breathing. it went so fast that it pushed this to the backburner, tragically... but it's here now

It hurt and Judar wasn’t thankful at all.

“Uugh…” 

Apparently being a masochist was a little different from what Judar thought it was. He actually… _didn’t_ like pain. He liked pampering himself with hot baths and fresh fruit, not ripping his muscles in two for a cheap fuck.

Was he some kind of coward? Judar’s pillow muffled his groans. It wasn’t even a soft pillow. It wasn’t worth it at all! Yet it still took great effort to raise himself from his mediocre pillow. That was how sore he was.

What he’d do to be filthy rich, with his own personal vampire butler to massage him in bed. He was starting to regret his life choices. What if he’d put some effort into training Hakuryuu to be his butler instead? Man, he’d be living the high life then… 

How far he’d fallen! What kind of loser wanted a butler instead of a dom!? Well, okay, if he could have _both_ … 

But he couldn’t. He could have one, and the one he chose was a dom, and now his poor body was screaming bloody murder at him for allowing this to happen.

After what felt like an eternity, Judar finally stood. God, if he could go back in time. If he could go back, he might really do it.

A bath was his only chance at salvation, so that’s what he set out to do first thing in the morning. And by ‘first thing in the morning’ he meant like one in the afternoon, which was the approximate time that he finally managed to move his shitty sore body to the tub.

It didn’t really make sense that he went to sleep at about the same time as Hakuryuu but always woke up later. Hakuryuu wasn’t the earliest riser in the world or anything, but he still managed to be up before ten every single day. So why did Judar end up sleeping past noon? How come he only began to move with purpose at one? So much of the day was lost to groaning about something or other, now more than ever thanks to his goddamn back.

Maybe he was just tired. It was hard work being kept captive in a vampire’s sex dungeon. He sighed with dramatic purpose despite no one being present to appreciate his acting skills.

Actually, wait. He could at least use the opportunity to be petty. He zeroed in on Hakuryuu’s body wash. He pictured Hakuryuu-scented bubbles covering the warm water’s surface.

He didn’t normally take bubble baths. Honestly, he never really got the appeal of them. He just felt like doing it today. It was more fun when it was someone else’s soap than his own. Using up all of Hakuryuu’s body wash would make him feel better, if anything.

When he closed his eyes, he could picture Hakuryuu right there, surrounded by the smell of his soap as he was.

There was a feeling in his chest as he breathed Hakuryuu’s absent scent, but he couldn’t place it.

It was something like… uh, what was it.

See, he really was sore. It got more and more painful everyday. Did he underestimate the daily toils of a live-in maid-slash-sub? It really wasn’t as easy as it looked. Physically, at least. As for mentally…

“……”

Mentally, it was pretty okay.

It was okay.

But he sometimes wanted to be alone, surrounded by fresh air. Who wouldn’t? Humans weren’t meant to stay inside all day, no matter what companies might try to convince their poor underpaid staff of. Sure, Hakuryuu let him go to the store with him, but that was it. That was the only outing that he could go on. He couldn’t go to the stores he liked or eat at the restaurants he liked. He couldn’t even loiter!

Not that Hakuryuu cared. And yeah, Hakuryuu’s worries were a lot more real than Judar’s were. Even he could understand that being killed was a lot worse than being bored, even if he was bored to tears.

Yeah, Hakuryuu could die. But Judar had a selfish streak just like any other guy, and that selfish streak was always screaming the same sentence to him: being inside was mind-numbing. 

So he sat in the water. So he blew bubbles up when the real bubbles popped naturally. 

Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this. The best place for him all along might’ve been his shoddy apartment on the other side of town. Like sure, it was a piece of shit place, but at least he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Freedom was valuable in a way that he was only just realized.

Judar treated all of it like a hassle back when he was doing it daily, but it was kinda fun going out and searching the streets for something interesting to do whenever the mood struck. He wasn’t able to do that at all lately. If he wanted some entertainment outside of what Hakuryuu could give him, the best thing he had was that old gameboy. Trying to get outside was a lost cause.

There weren’t any more bubbles to pop. Judar sighed and drained the bath. It had long since gone lukewarm, but the air still felt cold on his skin as the water washed through the drain and outside of the apartment. Even though it wasn’t warm, he was cold without it.

Winter sucked. It was nice seeing snow every now and then, and there was a special entertainment in watching the ice cause problems to every idiot who walked over it without paying any attention. But he’d never lived somewhere where the heater was good enough to give him any real escape from the cold, so it was really more trouble than it was worth. If he was rich it’d be different. But he wasn’t rich, so he couldn’t get a heater or a butler.

A real tragedy.

By the time Judar was out of the bathroom, Hakuryuu was talking on the other side of the apartment. Judar’s ears perked up. Hakuryuu’s friend wasn’t here today, so that meant… it was a phone call, right?

Who did Hakuryuu even talk to on the phone?

It was a fifty-fifty split. It was either a classmate—mostly the same idiot from before—or one of Hakuryuu’s many, many family members. 

Curiosity overtook him. He walked slowly, quietly out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel. Hakuryuu would hang up before he got there if Judar wasn’t careful. He didn’t have time to sit around and decide if it was worth it to put clothes on or not, given his current predicament.

He tip-toed as close as he could. All that he needed was to be close enough to understand who Hakuryuu was talking to and why.

It didn’t really matter. It was a passing curiosity at best. But he was so bored that satisfying passing curiosities was a matter of life and death.

“…yes, of course…”

“I’m not…”

“…they’re going well, don’t worry…”

Mm-hm. Yeah, he definitely knew exactly what was going on.

“Yes. Goodbye.”

Judar stepped back and returned to the bedroom as quickly as he could.

The thing that nobody told you about eavesdropping was that it was pretty much impossible to hear what was going on well enough to have even a rough idea of what was going on.

So basically, he learned absolutely nothing. He ended up putting the clothes that Hakuryuu got for him on. They weren’t that comfortable, but Hakuryuu would get annoyed if he didn’t try it.

He really wanted to get excited about it. But it just wasn’t working out. He was just too mind numbingly bored.

He had to do _something._ But the only thing he could think of was the gameboy.

Judar turned the old gameboy on and laid back down on the bed. Weird how it felt so soft when he got here, but now it was profoundly mediocre.

He loaded up the saved game. Hakuryuu said he hadn’t played any games since around the time his brothers died, and when Judar saw the dumb names he’d given everything, he could believe it. When Hakuryuu entered the bedroom, pale, Judar was still cackling over Zaggiy.

“Zaggiy,” Judar said, trying to get Hakuryuu’s attention. “Parfy. Soogel. What the hell _are_ these names?”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Five year old Hakuryuu’s naming sense.”

“Wh… are you talking about that game?”

“Duh. What else?”

“Are you sure they weren’t named by you? You often stole my games. I remember.”

“Did not,” Judar said. If he didn’t remember, it didn’t happen. Nevermind that it was probably true. “See, this one’s named after your brother. I wouldn’t have done that. And here’s—what the hell, you named one after me!”

“S-stop playing that stupid game and help me with the dishes. You’re living here for free, so it’s the least you can do.”

“I’m not living here,” Judar said. “I’m not allowed to leave. You made sure of that.” Judar pointed to the new padlock accusingly. “You even made me quit my job! I’m not doing any dishes.”

“Honestly, you were going to get fired from it anyway,” Hakuryuu muttered. “The voicemails from your supervisor were atrocious. And I told you, I’ll send out applications for you once your wound heals.”

“You’ll do the dishes too, right?”

“…Ugh!”

They were driving each other a little crazy, to say the least.

“Stop complaining,” Hakuryuu said. He moved closer and Judar really thought that he was going to smack him, but he didn’t. Hakuryuu ended up sitting on him—right where he knew it’d be distracting—and snatched the gameboy. Without a care for Judar’s progress, he turned it off.

“H-hey!” Judar tried to protest. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded. His mind was going blank. He was quickly caring less and less about the gameboy. But Hakuryuu was getting tired of his super ultra shitty flirting, so he was making an effort to upgrade to only slightly shitty flirting. “I was playing that!”

“I take back letting you use it,” Hakuryuu said. “You can have it back when you’re less of a pain in the ass.”

Judar’s breath hitched. 

He felt himself going hard beneath Hakuryuu, who just smiled into his lips.

“You’re so easy,” Hakuryuu all but whispered. Then bit down on Judar’s lip.

Hard.

It was enough to cause his fangs to extend to their full size.

So much for playing a little harder to get. That was suddenly the absolute last thing that Judar cared about. The rational side of his mind was telling him—the horny side of his mind—to shut up and scram, but how could he when a vampire’s teeth were grazing his lips? He felt his own blood dribble down his chin. He heard Hakuryuu’s soft moan as he inhaled the metallic smell, trying to hold back from lapping it up.

Hakuryuu couldn’t control himself any better than Judar could. He proved it by giving into temptation. He sucked on Judar’s bleeding lip. He only pulled away to swallow the mix of saliva and blood.

Judar took the opportunity to kiss him properly. He ran his tongue along the top row of Hakuryuu’s teeth. His fangs would pierce straight through Judar’s tongue if he wasn’t careful, and that made it fun.

“Who’s easy now?” Judar asked as Hakuryuu’s jaw wavered along with his resolve.

“I-I can’t help it!” Hakuryuu said as he pulled away. “They just come out. It’s no different from humans salivating when they smell meat.”

“Do you do that, too?” Judar asked.

“Not from the smell of meat. Only to keep my mouth from going dry.”

“Oh. Weird.”

Hakuryuu moved off and stood to put some more distance between them. “Humans are no less strange than we are, you know. You all have as many stupid quirks as we do.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Judar said. He didn’t know whether to be happy or sad that Hakuryuu successfully pulled himself off.

“…I didn’t expect you to agree so easily.”

“Mass murder is our hobby lately. Like, with vampires. We all just sit around and listen to killings all day, every day. That’s pretty quirky of us.”

Hakuryuu smiled. “I can’t argue that.”

“Do you ever watch those shows? The new vampire ones?”

“Sometimes.”

“They’re weirdly addictive, right? Especially the ones with all the bloody on-screen murder and sex.”

“I-I watch them to see what humans think, not to eat popcorn to!”

“Are you sure? You wouldn’t stutter if that was true.”

Hakuryuu huffed. “Anyway, Judar… what do you want for dinner?”

He changed the topic, didn’t he. “I dunno. You can have me for dinner, though.”

“Oh, shut up. Do you _ever_ think of anything other than sex?”

Judar shrugged. Probably, but he was bored, and Hakuryuu was a lot less likely to humor any of the other thoughts in his head than he was the super horny ones, so that was what he was going with.

He kind of felt like he was breaking character. At this rate, Hakuryuu wouldn’t be convinced at all.

He could’ve tried a little harder. Hakuryuu would’ve given in and they’d have fucked on the floor like animals for like the tenth time this week. His sore back would give in entirely and he would be whisked away to his next prison: a nursing home, the end-point of everyone who broke their fucking backs making terrible life decisions one after another.

Ah, what a sad fate. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.

Seriously, what was he thinking? What was he saying? He was talking without thinking and thinking without talking. 

Just terrible!

And then there was a knock on the door. The aimless thoughts in his head were replaced with a very, very purposeful thought: who was it? It was something new! Exciting! It didn’t matter even if it was just a package, because whatever was inside of the package would still be something new.

Hakuryuu shot him a dangerous face. “Go to the bedroom.”

“Aww. Why?”

“Nobody needs to know that you’re here.”

“But you let Alibaba know?”

“…I didn’t want him to. You’re the one who made sure he knew.”

Judar rolled his eyes. Whatever. This wasn’t a conversation that he could see himself winning, so he decided to be good. Just so that Hakuryuu wouldn’t pretend like he was out of the house and ignore the knock. 

He didn’t go all the way in, though. He stood by the door to the bedroom, out of the door’s sight but still close enough to listen in.

So Hakuryuu moved the stove, as quietly as he could manage, then opened the door.

“S-sister!?”

Sister.

Hakuryuu only had one sister: Hakuei.

Frankly, Judar didn’t have much to say about her, and even if he did, he doubted that any of it would be any good.

She was his rival in love. At least, that’s what she was back when he was a little kid. But that wasn’t the case now! He was the one that Hakuryuu chose to keep in his sex dungeon, not her!

Hakuei smiled at Hakuryuu’s shock. “Hello. Sorry that I haven’t been visiting as much as I should. I’ve been busy with work, unfortunately.”

“Ah, uhh… well. Could I take you out for coffee?” Hakuryuu suggested.

“Coffee?” Hakuei repeated. “I can’t say that I’m fond of it. Could you open the door a bit more? It’s cold out here.”

“N-n-no! My apartment is a mess,” Hakuryuu said.

“I can help clean.”

Hakuryuu’s hand behind his back was motioning wildly towards his bedroom. Judar sighed and obeyed.

He didn’t close the door behind himself, though. He left it just cracked enough to be able to hear every word, standing just out of sight.

“How have you been?” Hakuei asked.

“Just fine,” Hakuryuu said, a little too fast. He was kind of a shitty liar.

“…Good,” Hakuei said. She didn’t sound very convinced, though. “Have you been eating well?”

“I have.”

“You look tired, though. Have you been getting enough sleep?”

“Yes. Though I admit that it can be difficult this time of the year.”

“That’s true. Hardly any humans go outside at night anymore, and winter only makes it worse. It’s tough getting enough food, and when we finally get enough food, we’ve lost out on precious sleep.”

“Yes. Though I’ve had some success with using technology to help with this problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, there are some apps for finding humans who desire to meet up, even at night… oh, but I don’t think that you should use them. It’s just not safe.”

“Ahaha. A human can’t hurt me,” Hakuei said. “You should trust your big sister more. I’m far more worried about my next meal than I am a human who is capable of harming me.” 

“Ah, well… yes, of course. I’ll show you.”

Judar soon heard the click of a lock. This was the first he was hearing about any of this, but judging by the conversation, he was getting something to show Hakuei an app, right? Did he have a laptop?

Ugh. All those games that Judar could’ve been playing… All the movies he could’ve been watching… Instead, he was stuck with a shitty gameboy as his only entertainment. It was hard not to be bitter as hell.

They sat down together at the table as Hakuryuu showed Hakuei whatever it was that he had. Probably some kink dating app where people wanted to go out at night and get hunted for sport or some shit.

“Oh, so this is how you’re so well-fed this time of year,” Hakuei said, amazed. “Would you download this for me?”

“I-I really think that it’s dangerous for you…”

“No, please. I insist.”

“Well…”

“I’ll be okay.” 

“Are you alright?” Hakuryuu asked suddenly. “You look tired, too. Far more tired than I do. You really haven’t been eating well, have you? And have your coworkers been treating you right? Have any—”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Hakuryuu. I can take care of myself!”

“Say that all you want, but at the end of the day, you’re a woman,” Hakuryuu insisted. “I worry about you.”

“I know that you do. But you’ve worried enough. Let me worry about you instead.”

“Sister…” 

Judar grimaced. He was winning. He was winning. He was winning and she wasn’t! Hakuryuu liked him way better than he liked her. Really!

So why was he so damn jealous!?

It was just that… that Hakuryuu seemed like a different person with her. It was hard to place what was different, but… 

“I really do apologize for the mess,” Hakuryuu said. “I wish that I’d had the chance to make this a little more presentable for you.”

“No worries. It’s not messy at all,” she said, then hesitated for a moment. “But…”

“What is it?” 

“Are you going to introduce me?” Hakuei asked.

“…Um… what do you mean?”

“Do you think I can’t tell? I don’t have a cold or anything of the sort,” Hakuei said, tone gentle but firm. “My nose is working just fine. I can tell that you’ve been with a human in here.”

“…Sister, I…”

“I’m not scolding you. You’re an adult now. I just worry.”

“Please understand.” 

“Hakuryuu. Just like you worry about me, I worry about you. I understand how hard winter can be, and I see why you’d do this. But if he gets out, or if he yells loud enough for the neighbors to call the police… then you’ll be in serious danger.”

“I know,” Hakuryuu said. “But, I… I don’t want to kill him.”

“It’s hard, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Caring about humans.”

Caring?

Judar’s mind blanked.

Neither Hakuryuu nor Hakuei elaborated. Why would they? Whatever they were trying to say to each other got across, and they had no need to explain what they meant any further to an eavesdropper. So they left it at that. Soon after, they said their quiet goodbyes.

As soon as Hakuei was gone, Hakuryuu moved the stove back to the door. Then his footsteps, loud and fast, moved closer and closer to Judar.

Hakuryuu pinned Judar to the wall before Judar had the chance to say anything, pushing their clothed cocks hard together. Enough that it hurt.

“You smell like sex! You always do! If you weren’t such a whore, my sister wouldn’t have noticed—”

The only thing he could think about was the sensation of Hakuryuu grinding hard against him.

Judar moaned loudly over Hakuryuu’s words, missing all of the rest of what he was complaining about and proving his point splendidly.

Hakuryuu turned Judar around so his face was to the wall. “If you aren’t going to listen when I’m talking, then undress.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Judar said. His mind still hadn’t caught up to his body, but his mind didn’t need to be there to follow commands meant for his body. He pulled his shirt - Hakuryuu’s shirt, since he didn’t have much in the way of his own clothes - over his head first, then took his time unbuttoning his jeans. Long enough that Hakuryuu got impatient and just yanked them off.

Hakuryuu parted Judar’s ass forcefully and pushed a finger in. “I should have never said anything to you that day,” Hakuryuu said. “All you’ve caused for me is trouble. All this—sex—and it’s driving me mad.”

Judar reached down into his jeans’ pocket for the lube. Thanks to how often they’ve been going, he’d just been keeping some in his pocket. Hakuryuu took it as soon as he noticed without thanking him.

“You smell like sex. My bed smells like you. Even my table smells like your semen.” Hakuryuu finished applying a hasty amount of lube and pushed in with a groan, using a hand on Judar’s stomach to steady himself. He definitely could’ve used more lube, but Judar did like it rough. 

“Keep going,” Judar said. “Faster.”

“Don’t tell me what to _do_!”

“Mm—!”

It hurt. It hurt it hurt it hurt.

But just as it hurt… 

It was good. It was good it was good it was good.

It hurt so bad. It felt so good. With every thrust, it felt like his skull was going to pierce his brain. But that didn’t happen. The only thing that did happen was Hakuryuu’s moans getting louder. Then he slowed. Then he stopped.

It was only then that Judar realized that he’d cummed at some point. He could feel it. It was on the wall. When? Who knew. It hurt too bad for him to notice.

Hakuryuu left him panting against the wall, still hard in the aftermath of what’d just happened. “That was really good,” Judar breathed. It hurt so bad. “You’re so good.”

“I was serious,” Hakuryuu said. “You made a fool of me in front of my sister, I… we shouldn’t be doing any of this.”

“But you still are?”

“…Yeah. It’s good. Really good.”

But did it hurt, Hakuryuu? Did it really hurt?

Probably not for him. Judar limped to the bed and flopped onto it. Then he closed his eyes.

Hakuryuu was right. It was good. It was really good.

But it was mind-numbing. But it hurt. His back and his thighs and his ass all hurt.

The more this happened, the more it hurt, and even though he’d always get hard for Hakuryuu telling him what to do, the rest of his situation was catching up to him very, very quickly.

“A-anyway,” Hakuryuu said. “I have to go out. I’m starving.”

Judar shrugged and closed his eyes. “Have a good hunt.”

It wasn’t long before he heard the heavy sound of the stove moving, the door opening, then the stove moving again. Hakuryuu could probably win some serious arm-wrestling competitions if he could move that stove one-handed.

But anyway.

Judar opened his heavy eyelids.

He thought about the way Hakuryuu talked to his sister. He was so worried about her. She didn’t say that anything was wrong, but he still worried like crazy. She could say that she ate three five-course meals a day and he’d probably still worry that she wasn’t getting enough vitamin iron or whatever it was that vampires needed to stay alive. Meanwhile, Hakuryuu rolled his eyes when Judar complained about not wanting to eat vegetables.

Like, what was with that? Talk about double standards. Was it because Hakuei was a woman, or because she was a vampire, or what? It was annoying. Mind-numbingly annoying.

Judar rolled around on the bed to try to get comfortable despite the way that every angle brought a new kind of pain. Then his eyes focused on something unfamiliar.

He jumped up, the fog rapidly clearing from his mind.

“Whoa…” 

Was he dreaming?

Hakuryuu had left his tablet. A real tablet. It was even plugged in! It wasn’t dead! And look, look, it was connected to the wi-fi!! It had three bars! It said so on its lock screen!

It was the first real technology Judar had gotten to use without Hakuryuu hovering over his shoulder in a week, and he was sorely in need of the internet. But he had to figure out the passcode, first.

If Hakuryuu could hack his phone, he could hack Hakuryuu’s tablet. Right? Right.

Judar was not what one would call a tech whiz, but he knew the basics. Hakuryuu’s success in the matter was more about persistence than super hacker knowledge or anything, and Judar was going to prove it.

He got to work.

0000\. 0001. 0010.

Up and up and up. When he got locked out, he played games until it let him back in.

4010\. 4020. 4030.

He was gonna get locked out for ten years at this point.

Honestly, he had absolutely no expectation of actually getting in when it did just that.

41… uh, what number was he on again? Oh well.

The important part was that he was in and Hakuryuu had wifi. He could see the real world! But like, the real virtual world, not the one with the sun and stuff.

Even though he’d been working his ass off for this, now that he had it open, he really had no idea what he was going to do. He couldn’t very well call for help. He didn’t hate Hakuryuu and he didn’t want him dead. He just wanted to go outside for a few minutes. That was all.

That and like, watch some stupid videos online. Maybe some bad movies.

He really was a terrible sex slave. He got bored way too easy to go along with being good all day every day. Sure, he could be good for a while. He could live without entertainment for a while, too. Life wasn’t meant to be fun one hundred percent of the time! He could stand a few days of boredom.

A month was pushing it, though. So was a year.

About a week had passed, and that was the point where he started wondering how long exactly all of this would take.

Judar wasn’t as greedy as he might’ve seemed to the last fifty people who knew him.

He didn’t need a lavish world with twenty men waiting on him hand-and-foot.

He just needed… hm. Okay, yeah, he didn’t really _need_ anything. Maybe some fruit. A hot bath. Other than that, he could pretty much live with whatever.

So he didn’t _need_ to get out. He wasn’t going to die here. Hakuryuu wouldn’t kill him no matter how much he acted like he would. Even if Judar did something that could get him killed, he doubted that Hakuryuu would really kill him in retaliation. Not because he loved Judar deeply or anything. It was more because they knew each other when they were kids and Hakuryuu had proved to be quite the nostalgic.

He didn’t need to get out. But if he had the chance, he might enjoy things a little more if he could go outside with Hakuryuu than if they were cooped up in here all the time.

Also, it really wasn’t fair that Hakuryuu got to go out and he didn’t. Judar could live with Hakuryuu being in charge here, but who would give into a decision like that without bitching nonstop? It was just stupid. He wanted to go out, too.

He wouldn’t snitch, so Hakuryuu should just believe him.

That was all.

He watched some stupid videos about kids getting punked by their older siblings.

It was kind of relaxing, honestly. Tablets were expensive and he personally didn’t have one, so his legs got a little tired propping it up against them for hours trying to watch shitty videos. They weren’t used to it, especially when they were already as sore as they were. He ended up slouching, and when the screen got farther away, so did his consciousness.

So after working for hours to break into Hakuryuu’s tablet, he used it for about an hour before falling asleep. That was what that level of repetitive work did to him. Knocked him straight out.

It couldn’t have been long before he jerked awake to footsteps.

“Judar.”

Ah. That tone really said it all.

“What was it you called us the other day? Partners in punishment?”

“Umm… well, uh… is this about the tablet?” Judar asked, still groggy from his catnap.

“Take off your shirt. And be still, for once.”

Judar did as he was told. Despite his ever-increasing exhaustion, Hakuryuu’s tone hit the same spot in his mind as always. It went straight to his cock. Even if the rest of his body was ready to embrace death, his mind never failed to prove that it was still horny and would continue to be until the very second the lid of his coffin closed.

Hakuryuu didn’t waste any time in getting on top of Judar and digging his nails into his sides. Then he brought his face down to Judar’s. But he didn’t kiss him. His head moved down and away instead, to look at his neck. But he didn’t touch it.

Judar recognized it as the spot Hakuryuu’d been smelling the other day in bed.

“Not gonna kiss me anymore?” Judar asked. “Too scared you won’t be able to keep yourself from biting me?” He knew that he was being mean. He just didn’t care. Yeah, he was hard. Hakuryuu’s tone did things to his mind. But his body was so, so tired. All he wanted to do was watch some stupid videos. Was that really a crime?

“Do you want me to bleed you out?” Hakuryuu asked.

“Better than trapping me in here with nothing to do all day.”

Hakuryuu’s fangs punctured his neck with a sting. But the sting quickly faded and turned to pleasure.

“Mmh…!”

This was better, wasn’t it? If he couldn’t feel anything, then nothing really mattered. Hakuryuu lapped at the blood. With each lick, his neck got more numb and the pain in the rest of his body got duller and duller until nothing hurt anymore.

“Keep going,” Judar begged. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. It doesn’t hurt. Keep going.”

Hakuryuu blinked. Then he moved away, just so. Pressed a hand to Judar’s neck to stop the bleeding instead of using his tongue.

“Backing down?” Judar asked, annoyed. “Here I thought you were a vampire. Vampires shouldn’t let humans scare them off.”

“…Do you really feel like that?” Hakuryuu asked.

“Just bleed me out. I’ll feel so much better than being stuck here.”

“Judar…”

“Do it.”

“I’m sorry.”

Judar closed his eyes.

“I’m only doing it because… no. Sorry. You already know why I’m doing it, but… I’m still sorry.”

That wasn’t what Judar was trying to get to happen at all. But hearing it was still… hm.

In the end, Hakuryuu was Hakuryuu. He got self-conscious easily. He felt like an idiot when he had to back down or apologize.

Judar opened his eyes. Sure enough, Hakuryuu looked like he was going to cry from shame.

He was still Hakuryuu, wasn’t he?

He was Hakuryuu, the first and only person that Judar ever felt like he could understand.

Maybe it was the blood loss. Maybe it was Hakuryuu’s vampire powers or whatever. But keeping his eyes open was really, really hard.

So he slept.


End file.
